Meet the Cooks! Nicole, Treasurer Extraordinaire.

Name: Nicole Tiesma | Rides: Origin8 Cykel step through frame with an internal 3 speed hub, wald basket and matching sackville bag

Cookin' since: 2008 | Holds down the finance shift. Now most of my time is spent with spreadsheets, not bikes.

How'd you hear about the Kitchen: My friend Eric lived up the street when the Kitchen moved here, and we built our first bikes together back in 2005.

Where's your favorite place to ride your bicycle: (Oakland) My route home on my recently repaved street.

What do you do when you're not at Kitchen? Study! Or watch TV and pretend to study. I'm a grad student at USC getting my MBA.

The Weather was Fine and the Odds were good.

Saturday's Kickoff Bike Ride was super rad! Mabell showed up with a bunch of red balloons that just got you humming, "Neun und neuntsich luftballoons..." and brightened the gray day. Although the weather dampened attendance, it did not do so to our spirits. Bledsoe showed up on his paint bike in a cake costume, but sadly he couldn't ride it out of the block because he couldn't see! Hopefully, he'll get that up and running in time for the block party April 4th.

We rode out from Hel-Mel with a first stop at the Los Angeles Ec0-Village, birthplace of La Bicicocina. OG Hub member, Somerset Waters came out and spoke as did El Jimmy. Somerset then took a group of folks inside to check out the old Kitchen while Lois of CRISP took photos and the rest of us watched the bikes and clouds.

Next stop, a quick pointing out of the Monte Carlo at 3rd and Vermont, the old "boardroom." Then, a short ride down 4th St. Bicycle Boulevard and a right turn up Oxford to 2nd, to check out the old location of Barcade. The gorilla is GONE!! Ben Guzmán, Bicycle Kitchen co-founder, told funny, tall tales of mindbenders and saadam hussein and called forth the powers of Very Be Careful. The rundown? After wrenching on Tuesdays at Eco-village, "cooks" would ride bikes to get tacos at El Matador at Western and the 101, then head down Western to Barcade, an underground bar in an apartment with 80s videogames, cheap drinks and great music. After Barcade, maybe more tacos and then home. These places were important in cementing the bonds of the people who made the Bicicocina grow. Dreams and schemes and fun times.

After this, we headed up Oxford to Clinton to Western and then a straight shot north to Hollywood and Western where Kris10 hung up the architectural drawings of the storefront space that CRA has offered the Bicycle Kitchen to open up an additional space. (A bright future!) It's an amazing opportunity and a chance to offer the public a different kind of wrenching space than the one we have now on Hel-Mel. If we can keep our eyes on the prize and CRA stays on schedule the space could be ready as early as end of 2010. Another Kitcheny name?

Finally, we hightailed it back to Heliotrope and Melrose, affectionately, "Hel-Mel" our unofficial official bicycle district and home. We ate cake and raffled off the iPod touch that is engraved "The Bicycle Kitchen loves you." Because we do! Congratulations to John of the knickers and old-timey looking bike! We hope you enjoy it.

Check out photos of the ride here.

NEXT EVENT? Hel-Mel Block Party with Orange 20 on April 4th!

DON'T LET IT RAIN ON OUR PARADE!!!!

Head down to the Bicycle Kitchen at 1pm and see longtime cook Jim Bledsoe's CAKE COSTUME! Help us eat a 4-layer cake and other tasty treats!

If it's raining we'll hang out at the Kitchen and have some good times!

If you don't want to come out at all how about a rainy day donation from the comfort of cyberspace?!

http://www.bicyclekitchen.com/

Thank you and Ride On!

Your Friendly Neighborhood Cooks

We got the FIFTY-FIVE Cents COVERED!

Thanks to Michael Cahn!!

and hey, check out this great article about Jose Guzmán, a day laborer bicyclist a couple of our cooks have been working with at the Bike Repair Space that's part of IDEPSCA's downtown Job Center. This is a program of the City of Lights Campaign with the LACBC. Another great bicycle collaboration!

Meet the Cooks! Jonny Green

Name: Jonny Green (Jaw Knee) | Rides: a Lemon D

Cookin' Since: October 2007 | Holds down: Monday Shift (Tie Mondays!)

How'd you hear about the Kitchen: i was looking for a place to live in the area, and i came across the place. "what's this?" i asked myself. "this is not a bike shop." i was told.

Where's your favorite place to ride: almost everywhere.

What do you do when you're not a Kitchen: a bunch of stuff.

Rain or Shine!!!

mabell, potter, kris10 and jonny green as we test ride the route.

Hi friends,

We know there's a chance for rain on Saturday, so as an added incentive to join us for our kick off bike ride, we're going to be raffling off a Bicycle Kitchen engraved iPod Touch!

Become a Friend of the Kitchen at the bike ride and you'll be entered to win. We'll do the raffle at the end of the ride.

We will also have a trailer and/or extracycle to transport potluck stuff. Soggy banana bread rules!

See you Saturday!

p.s. The Pedaler hoodie/jacket is still up for grabs! Be the first person to donate $200 and WIN!
Read about it and check out the goods here.

Ride On!

The Bicycle Kitchen Launches our FIRST EVER Fundraising Campaign!

and within five minutes of launching two things happened:

1. Pedaler Clothing said they'd "give a hoodie or jacket (depends on what we have left) to the first person that gives you a $200 donation..."

2. Alyssa Siegel gave our FIRST Paypal donation of the campaign!! Three Cheers of Thanks to her!!!

Here's the Campaign:

2010 marks five years since our move from the Los Angeles Eco-Village to our current spot on Heliotrope. Five years ago we had nothing more than two months rent and the fire in our bellies. We also had the enthusiastic support of cyclists like you! We are writing you today to ask you to support the Bicycle Kitchen again—this time by donating to our Five Year Anniversary Fundraising Campaign to raise $55,555.55!

DONATE ONLINE

Your support will help us keep our doors open during a financially difficult period. For many years we had considerable success maintaining our operation through donations of bicycles and parts, suggested donations for using our tools and space, and the efforts of our volunteer Cooks. Yet as our client capacity increases, our donations have recently taken a huge hit. While we are proud that we’ve put countless Angelenos on bicycles with no one turned away for lack of funds, the fact remains we are no longer meeting our monthly expenses and are quickly running through our savings. Our goal amount of $55,555.55—besides being a catchy number!—will help us cover our projected budget shortfall over the next two fiscal years and reestablish an emergency fund.

If the Bicycle Kitchen helped you build your first bicycle or fix your current ride, please consider making a donation today so we can continue to provide this space to you and other Angelenos.

HOW CAN YOU DONATE?

**ONLINE through PayPal.

**MAIL a check made out to “Bicycle Kitchen” to 706 N Heliotrope Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90029

**VISIT US during open hours and let us thank you in person!

**COME TO AN EVENT!
Meet up with us at one of our Anniversary events and drop off your donation while having fun!

MARCH 6 // 5 Year Anniversary Bike Ride and potluck (meet at Kitchen @ 1PM)
APRIL 4 // HelMel Block Party with Orange 20
JUNE 12 // Fundraising Deadline and Celebratory Bash!

Remember, anything you donate contributes to our mission “to promote the bicycle as a fun, safe and accessible form of transportation, to foster healthy urban communities, and to provide a welcoming space to learn about building, maintaining and riding bicycles.”

Thank you for your support and we hope to see you soon!

Ride on,

Your Friendly Neighborhood Cooks

PS. The Bicycle Kitchen is a 501(c)3 non-profit (TIN# 26-0454089). Your contribution is tax-deductible.