LABC Presents: Payphones of Los Angeles

HONORING PRESIDENT NORA VETTER: In addition to our presentation, join us to honor President Nora Vetter on her last meeting, which will conclude her two years as the President of The Los Angeles Breakfast Club.

ABOUT THE PRESENTATION: In early 2018, documentary filmmaker Ryan Steven Green was waking up to the fact that the payphones of Los Angeles were disappearing from the landscape at an alarming rate. The realization coincided with the discovery that phones he himself had used as a youth coming up in Altadena had been reduced to smears of rusty bolts in the sidewalk. 

In another part of the city, a street artist going by the handle screwyblooms (aka Juan McKenzie Camacho) had awoken to the same fact and was calling attention to this realtime mass extinction event one booth at a time with his inimitable upcycled art installations - one of which he affixed to a decrepit remnant on Vine St. in Hollywood. 

It was a chance encounter with this install that prompted Green to seek out Camacho -- an event which has had ongoing repercussions for both artists, spawning years’ worth of creative output and a friendship built to last. Come to The LABC to hear the story of how this dead telecommunications technology continues to connect people in the City of Angels decades after its viability as a functioning part of public infrastructure has expired.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS: Ryan Steven Green makes documentaries. He was born in Glendale, came up in Altadena, graduated from USC (Cinema-Television, emphasis on non-fiction filmmaking), and has lived in Highland Park since 2004. Festivals and awards a-plenty for films on topics ranging from moustaches, to air-cooled Volkswagens, to the “world’s smallest professional basketball team” have fueled a fruitful career in advertising where he's had the pleasure of telling stories for some of the world's most well-known brands. Since 2018, his continuing documentation of the disappearing payphones of Los Angeles has yielded thousands of film and digital images, a series of ten micro (<1 minute) documentaries, two photo books, two group photography exhibitions, one solo photography exhibition, and the upcoming 29-minute documentary It’s For You: Ephemeral Art & The Death of the Public Phone. He is married to an endlessly gracious woman and is called ‘Dada’ by three spirited young humans.

Juan McKenzie Camacho is a scrap-grabbin’, screw-drivin’ urban warrior whose main focus has been the beautification of forgotten payphones. He's from El Cerrito, CA and has been in the Los Angeles area for the better part of 20 years, living in Glendale, Sherman Oaks, and now Reseda. While payphones have been his focus, he's sprinkled in other curious art projects including writing fake letters to the editors of small town papers about things that don’t exist and getting them published, and photoshopping lawn campaign signs, editing them so they are very awkward. His first payphone install was in 2015 outside an auto parts store on Victory Blvd in Burbank. And while that payphone is long gone, it sparked something in him, and now, 9 years later, he's adorned close to 140 payphones, mostly in and around Los Angeles and almost certainly on a street corner near you.

BONUS EVENT: Ryan Steven Green's documentary It’s For You: Ephemeral Art & The Death of the Public Phone will be screening Wednesday, March 20th at 5:30 pm (specially coordinated to be on the same day as this breakfast!) in the Edendale Library meeting room. It will be followed by a Q&A with director Ryan Steven Green and some of the street artists featured in the film. We highly encourage attending both the breakfast and the screening!

The screening will be free, and there is no need to RSVP. More info and details can be found here.

ABOUT THE CLUB: Founded in 1925, the Los Angeles Breakfast Club still thrives with food, friendship, and fun. Our meetings are held in our clubhouse, Friendship Auditorium, located at 3201 Riverside Drive, near the corner of Los Feliz Boulevard, in Griffith Park. Best described as a variety show, attendees enjoy a catered breakfast, silly songs, club traditions, and an interesting presentation from a guest speaker.

TICKETS: Sales on labreakfastclub.com close 48 hours before breakfast. Non-members are $25 and Members receive a 25% discount when logged into their Membership Portal.

Please arrive between 6:45 - 7:00 AM sharp! Doors close at 7:15 AM. Your admission includes a buffet breakfast, enjoyment of our 99-year-old club traditions, plus a special presentation from our Speaker of the Week!

For our ticket refund and exchange policy, please click here.

Note: Membership discounts are a benefit for members current with their dues. If you would like to apply to become a member, click here for more information.

HEALTH & SAFETY: Surgical disposable face masks or medical-grade masks (i.e., KN95, KF94, N95) are strongly recommended when not eating or drinking, especially during the cold and flu season, and will be provided on request.