Jul 3

Jul 3 All My Friends Music Festival + the ROW: Kickstarting the Heart of Downtown with a Revolutionary Gala of Massive Proportions

Situated in the tender soul of DTLA and adjacent to the beloved Arts District, lies ROW DTLA, a massive stretch of reimagined, historic buildings that cater to all of your eclectic shopping, dining, and creative workspace needs. The vast and undeniably style-oriented space was first known in the early 1920s as the LA Terminal Market, which was built along the Southern Pacific Railroad and still continues to be the core for distribution of produce across the region. As an exciting new venture, coming up in just the next few months is something bigger and louder than anything that has ever touched ROW DTLA’s concrete, ALL MY FRIENDS music festival.

Developed by Runyon Group, lead by David Fishbein and Joseph Miller, ROW DTLA is no stranger to drawing a crowd with its crafty chef-driven restaurants, niche retailers, and events like popular Smorgasburg in addition to its work-based creative residencies.

“At Runyon group we kind of had two pieces of our business both focused around that core initiative of sourcing and incubating and finding these great merchants,” says Fishbein. “I’ve always had a strong focus on working with kind of unique designers and chefs from all over the world, and really making a focus to source and find things that would make different neighborhoods that we did business in special and interesting, and also bring back that element of discovery to retail which I think has been lost over the years.”

As for the man behind ALL MY FRIENDS, Gary Richards, also known as DESTRUCTO, has downright lived and breathed music since his childhood. Growing up with a father who worked in radio and an insatiable love for music, for two decades, Richards has worked not only in concert promotion, but as a successful record label executive, DJ, and festival founder.

“The first time that I ever really heard electronic music in LA, and heard it presented in a specific way, was on like Alameda and 14th,” says Richards. “It was just some abandoned warehouse that we rolled into and hung out at during late night hours, but when I was in my early 20s and started going to events where I first learned about this specific kind of music, it was right here.”

Formerly of Electric Daisy Carnival and HARD events fame, Richards is now the president of LiveStyle, North America. Even prior to joining LiveStyle, his events have drawn enormous crowds with big-name EDM headliners and his cruise line festival Holy Ship has been so popular it will sail twice in one year.

“In my last events, I kept getting more away from the city, and I wanted to be in downtown. To me it’s special to be a part of LA. I think this area just has a lot of feel and history for LA, and since I’m starting something new, I just thought it would be the right place.”

Although the lineup is set at a different pace than what Richards normally stacks with huge names and electronic-heavy acts and production, this is done with the intent of bringing in a fresh sense of diversity.

“It’s more of a variety. I really want to have more people from LA and a lot of the DJs from LA who should get more of a shine. There are just certain DJ’s over the year that I’ve been going to events who were kind of like the DJ’s DJ, I’m trying to give them a chance to shine. I’m trying to get people who deserve to be put on and come up with a new mix.”

You can find more information and tickets for ALL MY FRIENDS on their website, but hurry, they’re going fast. August is approaching sooner than you think, so put on your dancing shoes, and we’ll see you there!

amfamfamf.com | rowdtla.com | 777 Alameda St, Los Angeles, CA 90021

Written by Dakota Nate | Photography by Robiee Ziegler