Sometimes, on Fridays, I love nothing more than to get cozy in my recliner chair in my jammies & kick back, then, there are those weeks, like last, I really would like to go out yet don’t want to spend a lot of money. You can guess how happy I was when I found out through a theatre connection of mine that the lovely TAG Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica (just off Pico Blvd) would be having a night of music, food, wine & the unplugging of ALL devices since it was, apparently, National Day of Unplugging. This is a day when we vow not to use our phones for texting, checking in, tweeting, yelping….ya know, a day us Bloggers really do not know;)
(*Hi!, Acrylic on canvas, by Betty Sheinbaum. available at TAG Gallery)
The Gallery made it easy to oblige by the rules, though; upon entry, guests were given a cute little cloth bag to put their cell phone in & add to a ‘tree’ (It could have been a coat rack!) of phones! Along with a fortune of a random act of kindness to complete; I just love what mine was: “Put $5 in someones pocket with a note that reads, ‘You have been reverse pick pocketed'”.
Acoustic band, The Coals provided awesome chill-out music. They gave the perfect setting for wanting to forget about who was saying what on-line, & made everyone wan to listen to their music had to say, while we all gazed at gorgeous art for sale along the walls of this 2 level gallery
(*Red, Black, Blue and White Diptych #1, Acrylic on canvas, by Alain Rogier also at TAG)
The TAG Gallery is located with several other warehouse-style buildings, I, at first thought I was lost! But as you go to the end of the street & enter through their parking lot, you will come upon it quickly. I really enjoyed the atmosphere & spending a Friday night in Santa Monica, but without a lot of fuss & money;) Check out their site here for up-coming events & to visit!
Afterwards, since my friend & I were some of the last to leave the soiree! We hit up an adorable coffeehouse open til midnight called Unurban Cafe, which, to my delight serves gluten-free bagels, muffins & cookies. My cappuccino was delicious, too. The enviroment was very ‘Friends’ Central Perk-esque, which I loved:) If you’re in the LA/SM area, check out these great local spots, Santa Monica has much more to offer than the well-known pier & promenade.
(*Disclaimer: I was provided with complimentary tickets to the Unplugged event. All opinions are my own & it was a great time!)
Along Comes Mary.... 
Another gallery to put on my fast growing list. I’ve been to Urban Cafe and loved it. How cool is that. 🙂
Unurban on Pico?! How funny!:) I loved it & the people there:)
I used work not far from there. 🙂
Looks like it was a lot of fun! I like that they actually made you “unplug” yourselves from your phones. I think that made the visitors/audience become more involved in the event.
Oh, I am sure it did….although I am sure we watched that ‘tree’ to make sure our phones didn’t get lost;)
Wow I’ve never been in a gallery since I was in college. I guess I also miss inclination towards the artistic side, sometime we just gotta relax and do something different from the ordinary…
Right?!:)
what a fun event you attended the unurban cafe sounds great 🙂
It was! 🙂
Sounds like such a fun time. I wish I knew about a similar event in my area, i’d love to go.
Thanks Emily!!!
I had the opportunity to visit Santa Monica for a couple days earlier this year – I loved it so much! Hope to come back again someday to spend more time there.
Its so ‘SoCal’ & fun, the area this all was in was sorta cool in that you were rather oblivious to the fact the ocean was right down the street!:)
Sounds like a fun evening. I love the idea of Reverse Pick-pocketing. I collect ideas for random acts of kindness so now I’m thinking of other ways to incorporate it!
I have done the pay-for-the-car-behind-me gratitude, but not the reverse pick pocket, yet!:)
Yesterday when I said I would pay for the person behind me in the donut shop drive thru they were buying 2 dozen donuts! I’ve learned to qualifty my random acts. LOL
What a fun event to attend.
I use to attend events like this all the time, makes me want to again!!
Oh you so should!:)
Too funny! I was at Bergamot Station on Sunday after months of telling myself I need to go. I stopped in TAG Gallery while I was there =) Would have loved to gone on this venture with you.. 😉
So funny, seems there are many of my readers with connections to my Friday night! You would have loved their wine bar, we tried both the reds & they were great 🙂