Hi, Kate here! If you don’t know me, I’m a teacher and content creator at the Arterie, and guest writer on the blog. Today I want to share one of my favorite galleries that had a huge impact on me as a young artist, and remains one of my favorite weekend destinations to this day.

**the Giant Robot store, and Giant Robot 2 gallery**

When I was a kid, Sundays were “adventure” days, and the best of those days were art days. My parents would pack me into the car, and we'd drive into LA to check out new exhibitions.

On some of those Sundays I was bored out of my skull, shuffling my feet and wondering why anyone was so interested in musty old paintings, or sculptures that resembled blobby metallic lumps. But usually, I'd see something that sparked my imagination, and after the sleepy car ride home, I'd run straight for my art materials.

My favorite adventure days were spent in Sawtelle Japantown, where, at a tiny art gallery called Giant Robot 2, I'd discover some of my favorite artists and illustrators. Giant Robot 2 (sometimes abbreviated as GR2) is an accompanying art gallery to the Giant Robot store across the street, which sells artist-designed apparel, toys, books, housewares, and other odds and ends. It’s a great place to find unique gifts. Many of Giant Robot’s artists work in film, TV, book illustration, and animation, and show their personal artwork in the gallery.

As a kid, I found the artwork there charming, imaginative, weird, amusing, and full of heart. It wasn’t some 18th century duke scowling down from a massive gilded frame, it wasn’t ugly and incomprehensible to me like a lot of contemporary art was. I could relate to it, it was like seeing my picture books take on a life of their own, and it made me feel like maybe one day, my little doodles of cats, witches, unicorns and fairies could be hanging in a gallery, too.

I could wax poetic about Giant Robot gallery forever, but I really just want to give it my most shining recommendation as a place to take your art-inclined child. You may want to double check the current exhibition to make sure it’s suitable for children- I was exposed to plenty of artistic nudity as a kid, I think I turned out okay, but everyone’s different!

Plus, you can take advantage of the incredible food selection found in Sawtelle Japantown. There’s an Okonomiyaki spot called Chinchikurin that’s a stone’s throw away from a Japanese toy shop, an incredible (and always packed) noodle restaurant called Tsujita, a Nijiya market (Japanese grocery store,) a Hawaiian shave ice shop that’s perfect for hot days, and plenty more to explore.

More about giant robot

Gallery Art for Kids! (a recommendation from a grown-up who was a kid not so long ago)