It's a Ratplay Holiday!
December 1-December 31
Ratplay is a community-obsessed newsletter about events, people, and clubs in Los Angeles.
Welcome to the Ratplay Holiday edition! Lots to celebrate this month 🥰
It’s been three months since Ratplay launched, and I’m so thrilled to have you all here. THANK YOU for all the incredible community events, clubs, and neighbors you share, the diabolical rat spottings you send my way, and for making this such a labor of love. I take so much joy from sharing all the amazing things people are doing across this weird, tender, rat-infested city, and I hope you continue to enjoy receiving it.
RatPlay is a labor of love so it’s $$freeeee, but I want to make RatPlay even better for you– so tell me what you like here, and we’ll make that happen. Please, please, no presents this year–just this survey 😌
We’ll be including all December events in this issue so this little rat can take a much needed digital break over the holidays and bask in the Miami sun while she reads her silly little books and smells her parents’ silly little flowers and does her silly little meditations. She is me. Life is good. Grateful to you all!
Anyway, hop in rats, here’s what’s kickin’ for the next month: we’ve got holiday parties, curated markets, ice cream socials, live music–the list goes on!
Danny D’s Ice Cream Social
🗓️ Saturday, 12/2 @ 2-8PM (add to cal)
📍Danny D’s Mud Shop (Highland Park)
💲Free 🐀 (RSVP here)
A potter, a baker, and a chef walk into a bar garage.
Join self-made ceramicist Danny D, baker @sashimi1, and home cook extraordinaire @tenderherbs for an afternoon of treats and socializing. $40 gets you one of Danny’s bowls filled with Van Leeuwen ice cream, but hangin out and checking out the ceramics is $free. Word on the street is Sasha’s bringing a 3ft slab cake.
I’ll leave you all with a quote that someone left in Danny’s IG comments: “I liked you first because you are handsome than realised that you are also talented lol
Keep on going 💙”
Hiking with the Homies
🗓️ Sunday, 12/3 @3-5:30PM (add to cal)
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📍Brush Canyon Trail and Mount Bell Loop (Hollywood)
💲Free 🐀
Most of the hikes I post here start at the crack ass of dawn, so I’m sharing this sunset hike for those of you committed to the rat lifestyle who go hard on a Saturday night, wake up at 1pm, panic realizing Monday is near, and need something to center you and make you feel like you' haven’t wasted your entire day <3 Don’t say I don’t do anything for you!!! A lot of hike groups I come across these days are ticketed which does feel strange to me (although organizers/guides gotta live, I get it), but it’s nice to see free ones where the only compensation is meeting new people and shaking out your limbs.
USAL Holiday Block Party
🗓️Saturday, 12/2 @ 6-10PM (add to cal)
![add to cal](http://<a target="_blank" href="https://calendar.google.com/calendar/event?action=TEMPLATE&tmeid=NTExamFqcm9rNzA4ZHY2ZTdhaHFwdWhjc2kgcmF0cGxheWxhQG0&tmsrc=ratplayla%40gmail.com"><img border="0" src="https://www.google.com/calendar/images/ext/gc_button1_en.gif"></a>){kind=link}
📍3021 Rowena Ave (Silverlake)
💲Tickets here ($12 adv, $15 day of) (100 tix avail at door!)
Another USAL event, I honestly can’t help myself and I don’t want to–they’re expert curators at bringing some of the coolest community groups and small businesses together. If you’re looking for me, I’ll be drinking goblets of Good Boy Wine and scarfing the food of gods from Love Hour (from the guys that brought you Koreatown Run Club), Amiga Amore (one of the Infatuation’s Best New LA restaurants of 2023), and Metztli Taqueria (fancy taco connoisseurs and long-time Melody residents).
Note from the organizers: there will be heat lamps, but dress warm!!
Silverlake Backgammon Holiday Party
🗓️Thursday, 12/7 @ 6PM (add to cal)
📍Superfilms (Silverlake)
💲Free 🐀 (RSVP here)
This one squeezed in but I had to throw it a mention. If you remember, these guys did a pop-up at Club Teegee a month ago with Persian food by Homa LA. I got to attend their 3rd event at Spirit House in Echo Park (basically Sticky Rice’s speakeasy) right before publishing this issue, and as a person who doesn’t typically enjoy board games, I’ve gotta say…the vibes were truly immaculate. There’s something really special about backgammon that creates a sense of ease, of camaraderie, of dare I say…community?? Several people showed up alone with nothing but a board and seamlessly fell in with others over a shared love for the (reclaimed) beautiful game 🤧 Catch the club at their holiday party this Thursday where they’ll be offering up free food, natural wine by the glass/bottle, cumbia on the speakers, and of course, plenty of tables for backgammon.
QUEERSOUND
🗓️Thursday, 12/14 @ 7:30PM (add to cal)
📍The Silverlake Lounge (Silverlake, duh)
💲Tickets here ($12 adv, $15 day of)
We know what queers look like but have you ever wondered what queers SOUND like? Look no further! Local singer/songwriters Ogreta, Wryn, and Syd Matisse are pulling up to The Silverlake Lounge for some intimate performances, and word on the street it’s doubling as a certain special Sagittarius’s birthday. I haven’t taken live music for granted since the days of the pandemic, so if you’re trying to murder me, tell me we’re going to a show and I’ll come willingly. Why not this one?
Disco Tehran
🗓️ Friday, 12/15 @ 8PM (add to cal)
📍Teragram Ballroom
💲Tickets here ($45+)
One time for the flyer!!!! I used to go to Disco Tehran when I was a crusty (but vibey) nyc street rat, and as someone who partied a lot 😏😏😏, they were some of the best nights I can remember. The party was started with the goal of “connecting nyc to the era of 1970s cosmopolitan venues in Tehran” which makes me nostalgic for something I’ve never seen or known–it’s both a time machine and a cultural portal. Tickets are still available but they’re at the final tier so they’re on the more expensive side. If you’re feeling the fuck it energy of the holidays and in need of a shakeout, this is it.
Bazaar (Clothing Swap and Art Market)
🗓️ Sunday, 12/17 @ 11-3PM (add to cal)
📍Oblivion (Highland Park)
💲Free 🐀
If you’ve driven past Oblivion in Highland Park and wondered why there’s a surf shop this far east, you’re not alone. There’s a good answer for this question, and it’s that Oblivion understood that even if the water is far, surf culture truly is everywhere. The shop sells the expected items like boards, wetsuits, and wax, but they also boast an impressive array of vintage, art, books, accessories, and the obligatory branded trucker hat (I’m honestly not even mad, the logo goes crazy). They’re a self-professed community store, hosting board swaps, offering free board rentals, and hosting markets like this sweet Bazaar with aaaaall the goods. Bring clothes to swap with others, empty stomachs for food by Villa Marino and Boy Blue, free booze by Anytime Spritz*, and more. My friends, this…this event is is peak rat behavior.
*My lawyers have told me that I must disclose that I’m an investor in Anytime…no I was not paid for this endorsement (nor any endorsement, someone please pay me), yes my ownership in Anytime is so small it’s basically symbolic 😍 Love ‘em though <3
Dyke Soccer
Where to go if you want to meet other dykes and play soccer
I joined Dyke Soccer back in early 2020 (pre-pandy) when I was new to LA and looking for queer community. The pandemic crushed my dreams a week after I started, but a year later, it picked back up and I made some of my very best friends in LA. In my experience, Dyke Soccer isn’t really about the sport at all, or at least that’s not what’s most unique about it. Dyke Soccer at its best provides a comfortable, non-committal, inclusive space for expressive freedom, open-door community, and queer joy. There’s always room for you when you need it.
The Community: Dyke Soccer started out in NYC in 2018 and quickly spreading to other cities like LA, SF, Seattle, Portland, Oakland, and Denver.
At DSLA, all meet-ups are pick-up–meaning players can show up one day and come again three months later if they choose–but there’s a big pack of regulars too. Games and field space are free in exchange for a few of the Dyke Soccer leadership volunteers agreeing to coach kids’ soccer teams at the park. You can expect around 30-60 of varying skill level on a given the day, and sessions typically run for 3 hours with people floating in and out. If you’re out of shape, great–so are 50% of others. There’s plenty time to both play and socialize, with 3-4 teams alternating on the field throughout the evening.
The Culture: If you’re looking for a place to heal the version of you that played competitive sports and can barely touch a ball without triggering deeply buried anxiety, this is for you. If you’ve never played a sport in your life (let alone soccer) but “Bend it Like Beckham” turned you gay and you’d like to reflect on that with other simple queers, this is for you. If you’re eager, however, to tap into that competitive energy that’s been resting dormant inside of you for years waiting to be released alongside a group of equally intense former athletes, look elsewhere.
At Dyke Soccer, goals aren’t counted, physical contact isn’t allowed, and newbies and ex-collegiate athletes run across the same fields. Players bring home-baked goods, pots of pulled pork, coolers of beer and art & crafts projects. Some people don’t play at all, opting to sit on the sidelines chatting and watching (and respectfully cruising, of course). Vibes are sweet, earnest and not friendly to fierce competitors, so my best advice: know what you’re signing up for. If you’re looking for something more intense, try a competitive league.
The People: DS is explicitly inclusive of all “dykes, transfolx, gender-variant folx, and for whomever this feels like home", and gender/sexuality policing is strictly forbidden. There’s high racial and ethnic diversity, attracting players from all over greater Los Angeles, and ages range anywhere from 18-35.
What’s the glue that keeps Dyke Soccer together?
“I think in the macro sense, Dyke Soccer is driven by a lack in our country/society of third places—anchor places in people’s lives that aren’t home or work.
Of course we need more than just a job and a roof over our heads—we crave family, community, connection. For some people the third place is church, or the library, or some corner of the internet. For us, Dyke Soccer is that place: a consistent, (relatively) non-competitive place for queer people—who have far less opportunities to safely exist in public—to come together, meet friends, share resources, take up space, move our bodies and heal our inner children through playing the beautiful game.
Dyke Soccer is not a perfect utopia, yet it keeps running even through its rough patches even though we we ultimately have no obligation to be there because once you’ve had the experience of feeling seen, accepted, celebrated and just plain good while being incidentally but unabashedly queer it’s hard to give up on that.”
– Lu Kim , a DS regular and former Committee Member.
When/Where: Wednesdays & Sundays @ Albion Riverside Park
Next Meet-up: Sunday, Dec 3 2PM-5PM (check the Dyke Soccer LA discord here for scheduling updates.
How to Join: Just show up!
As usual, the rats were up to no good this week.
submitted by @seedy_la
And one live from the field!!
That’s it for now! This rat is listening to the new ambient jazz André 3000 album New Blue Sun and reveling in her newly found inner peace #ratswhorevel.
Love you (please fill out the survey!)
CK
i always love to get rat mail :~)