Our Story

 
Our Story
We are a crew of friends and family from low-income, working-class, immigrant communities, with limited formal education and nearly no money. We grew up during a time of violence in Los Angeles during the 80′s and 90′s. Local activists, organizers, counselors, teachers, gangsters, and other community leaders kept us out of trouble by teaching us how to organize ourselves and our peers. BBQ literally kept us from being shot.

As we grew older, BBQ was our gift to our family, friends, and community. Cooking at birthdays, celebrations, conferences and other events was our contribution.

Utilizing the services of the same non-profits we grew up with, we took an Entrepreneur Training Program funded by the SBA to learn how to build a business plan, save, and market our product. With no money, we initiated our own capital campaign fund to provide the initial seed money to purchase equipment, pay for licenses, and build our brand. Although we had no budget for marketing, we eventually reached the #1 spot on Yelp for one year straight as the best restaurant in Los Angeles (even though we didn’t have a brick-and-mortar yet and were just operating as a catering company), based off of the strength of our service and product reviewed by customers we have catered for.

The Impact
So with that, The Park’s Finest, a mobile catering company based in Echo Park, has brought a distinct flavor to the LA food scene with our Filipino take on traditional American cuts of BBQ. We have blessed backyard boogies and community events all over the Southland, and have steadily gained popularity. To meet the rise in demand, as a community-oriented company, we aim to reinvigorate the blighted district of Historic Filipinotown in Echo Park. Our community fundraising campaign will build capital for a restaurant that offers a fulfilling dining experience, for families and friends to enjoy savory BBQ in an atmosphere where musicians and artists can showcase works that reflect and celebrate the intersections of the dynamic cultures and histories bridged by this vibrant area of LA.

Timuay Tri-Tip

Ligaya Veggie Medley

$100-(7-10) 1 full tray filled w chicken, pork ribs, and links. 10pcs of each item

$300-(15-20) half tray of chicken, half tray links, half tray of pork ribs, half tray of tri-tip.

$450-(25-30) tray of chicken, tray of links, 4 full slabs of pork ribs w/ riblets, half tray tri-tip, Half tray of veggies includes veggie medley, green onions and mushrooms. full sheet of crack! (cornbread bibinka)

You can buy pre-sale tickets now and for $20 you’ll get a TPF Pulled Pork Pan de Sal with your advance ticket purchase!

Downtown Los Angeles Free Public Arts Series Celebrates 12 Years at the TNParty

Tuesday Night Project’s TNParty: Annual Benefit for the Tuesday Night Project in Little Tokyo on July 31st, 2010

Los Angeles – Hidden gem of Los Angeles Tuesday Night Project (TNP) celebrates its 12th year of free multidisciplinary arts programming in Downtown Los Angeles. Since 1999, their flagship series, the “1st & 3rd Tuesday Night Cafe,” has presented a variety of Asian American and Los Angeles artists performing music, poetry, visual art, comedy improv, short films, and performance art. In celebration, TNP presents the “TNParty: Annual Benefit for the Tuesday Night Project” on July 31st in the JACCC Plaza at 244 S San Pedro St, Los Angeles, CA 90012, from 5PM to 11PM. It will be TNP’s 2nd annual fundraiser, featuring DJs, live music, a silent art auction, live painters throughout the Plaza, and a special “Video-Collider mash-up”/ninety minutes of 60-second videos from LA artists strung together and projected onstage by partner Visual Communications to “mash-up” with the DJs that follow the live music performances.  This event is co-presented by the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center.

“Last year at TNP’s first-ever annual benefit, we got to see over 500 people come through, from seniors living in the neighborhood to the kids of long-ago TNC regulars.” says Narinda Heng, one of the co-producers on the volunteer staff. “It was amazing seeing how far TNProject’s reach went, and how far the TN family has come since it began, as Resident Host Johneric Concordia says, ‘with just a karaoke machine.’” Heng refers to the humble beginnings of the “1st & 3rd Tuesday Night Cafe” having only been equipped with a karaoke machine and a few chairs.

With free admission for kids 12 and under, the TNParty will begin with a family hour featuring Mista Cookie Jar, and taiko with Pro Ta and poongmul (korean drumming) with Freedom Sounds.  A full evening of music will also include performers: Bambu, formerly of the Native Guns; Harlem Lee, winner of 2003 TV show Fame; Rocky Rivera and DJ Roza; and Tuesday Night Project Resident Artists Durwood(Golda Inquito and Gertie Meza) collaborating with David Tran a.k.a Applesauce; Dawen; Shin Kawasaki; and Sue Jin with Jenny San Angel. Featured vendors will include family-owned catering business The Parks Finest, #1 in Yelp Los Angeles, and Good Girl Dinette, a popular restaurant in Eagle Rock, along with several independent artisans selling everything from jewelry (Christine Keiko Agena’s Mango Pop) to painted light switch plates (Los Switcheros).

Before THE PARTY, their first fundraising celebration in 2009, TNP primarily relied on small donations at the live events. Still, Tuesday Night Project, a collective of community artists and leaders, has consistently presented the “1st & 3rd Tuesday Night Cafe” on the first and third Tuesday of every month from spring through fall.

“Our growth since 1999 has been tremendous,” says Tuesday Night Project founder traci kato-kiriyama, “But our costs are real. We have old light trees that need replacement, our sound engineer drives from his day job in Irvine for a generously cut rate. It may be free for everyone else, but it’s not free for us – and we want to ensure the series stays free to the public while we grow the capacity of the organization into the next phase of exciting plans and programming for TNP.”

TNP welcomes everyone from long-time supporters of Tuesday Night Cafe and past performers to newcomers to join them at the TNParty and support one of the longest running free public art spaces in Downtown L.A. Presale and student/senior tickets are $15 and general admission at the door is $20. Tickets are currently on sale and children 12 and under free. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.tuesdaynightproject.org.

The ONLY Place to try an individual plate of The Park’s Finest! Because of our close connections with community organizations we want to drive your interest to not only try our food, but enjoy one of Los Angeles’ best shows that convey what the City of Angels is all about. You spend more money playing lotto tickets, buying cigarettes and a drink at the club, and paying for your commute, why not spend it on a great space, good food, and awesome art?

It’s now a year since we have been officially in business, and in the process we’ve learned from you our clients how to best help make your backyard boogie the best it can be.

With that, we have compiled a list of frequently asked questions to aid you.

It looks like it will be an outstanding match up. Get your fam and team together and pitch in on the PPV and The Park’s Finest Fight Night spread