We have debuted!

LABS welcomed its debutantes with an impressive array of food (grilled, pulled, baked, casseroled, and most things in between), shelter from the storm, exotic Balkan movie projections, and a bottomless supply of lager.

And we raised hundreds of dollars in support of Argentinean actress/dancer Perla Logarzo's 2010 performance/teaching tour to the US!

We couldn't be more pleased. Talk back to us about this event, and stay tuned for our next alley hootenanny - likely in the coolness of autumn.

Beneficence in process, today

Pita, patties, buns, lager...we're serious. Plus humus & salads galore for the veggies. Come on down.

Today (Saturday July 25th)

1211 Lovegrove St

Baltimore

7pm food & lager

$20 donation

Three days to go

Movies and food and beer, oh my!

We'll be projecting a movie on the wall of the building opposite ours, for visual delight.

The food, well, we had a menu sampling on Sunday and really, you don't want to miss this: homemade hamburger buns and pita bread are just the newest accomplishments of the 1211 household.

And beer! Drink it! Or don't! Either way, just come on over this Saturday.

July 25th at 7pm: L.A.B.S. debut, aka The Big Tasty

The hallway is cleaner than it's been in years. My hands are prune-like from hours of pitting Morello cherries for pie. We're hitting up our friends to borrow grills.

Even the cat knows...

Just 12 days to the Big Tasty.

Late-night L.A.B.S. activity: dessert first

It's 1 am and L.A.B.S. is taking advantage of the season--plus a bout of domestic mania--to prepare for its July 25th event.

Local rhubarb and sour cherries will be gone by late July

unless you're in the Alley

eating pie.

You cannot resist.

You have just four more weeks to ready yourself for the big tasty.

debut of the Lovegrove Alley Beneficent Society, 7/25/09

The idea is to take something we already like to do (set up a grill on the curb, prepare a tasty meal, and spend the evening sitting in the alley eating and talking and listening to music) and open it up to more people for the benefit of artists both near and far.

In this public version, then, we'll make a ton more food, we'll charge a nominal fee, everyone will get to eat and drink and hang out, and a lucky artist selected by L.A.B.S. will receive the proceeds as a mini-grant. It's good for everyone!

We believe in history, the sharing of good ideas, and speading good ideas by making them your own. In that vein, we note that this idea bears some relation to the work of these good folks in Chicago: http://www.incubate-chicago.org/sundaysoup

L.A.B.S. will be super tasty, cheap, low-key, and fun. The proceeds will make an artist very happy. Eventually there may be entertainment - a movie projected onto the wall of a neighboring building, or live performance, or interactive jump-roping lessons, or tricks with old sparklers. It's too good to last. Stay tuned for news of our first meal, currently planned for Saturday, July 25th.