Beyond Baroque Foundation & Literary Arts Center

Beyond Baroque is a wonderful neighborhood gem with fun programming.
I love the poetry evenings with Eve and the readings in general. I need to go more often since it is so close to my house.
The staff is great and committed. They have a great bookstore and a little gallery upstairs. Their community spirit is great and I have been to a dance party there that was a lot of fun.

Best open mic and group of poets and artists gathering at the legendary Beyond Baroque which is beyond amazing, so many workshops, readings, open Mics and bookstore, a real treasure

I had a fabulous experience at Beyond Baroque on Saturday night. We had two live performances of poetry with a bass player and excellent seats in a an intimate setting all for $ 20 for two people. The poets were fantastic!
They had wine and beer available for a donation. There’s a great new and used poetry bookstore connected here. And, for $ 35/​year you can attend 99% of their performances and workshops for free and for $ 50/​year you can have two people attend their workshops for free. I joined at the $ 50 level and received a great poetry CD and photography book. I found the crowd and organizers to be engaging and friendly. There was plenty of free street parking.
It was a beautiful evening for a poet’s heart.

Beyond Baroque is the Mecca for any independent writer. It is so Venice, it is such a cool spot, one of my favorites in L.A. Very low-​key and yet, such a treasure trove of books you will find nowhere else and poetry nights from local writers and beyond. Yes! It also has many writing workshops for different formats of writing.

Peggy Aylsworth poetry reading was a masterpiece at this historic old Venice courthouse. Well done.

Went to a reading last night and it was a fantastic lineup and such a warm environment of poetry lovers of all ages. True, it started a bit later than it was supposed to, but there were snacks, the bookstore was open and the socializing was such fun.

I will be back, all kind of events and things to do here. Don’t judge a book by a cover — check out Beyond Baroque for your self! You will be glad you did.

I’ve been to a couple of plays here and it is fantastic.
We met the actors Frank Collison and Orson Bean. Frank was attending the play and Orson was one of the actorts. So cool ;-). Both of them are down to earth and it was nice talking to.

This is a literary mecca in Los Angeles. It used to be the old Firehouse in Venice… now it’s a literary arts center…
There is always something going on at Beyond Baroque, from poetry readings to workshops for children, older students, and adults of all ages. The library here is one my favorite spaces. You will find that they have stacks and stacks of poetry. You’ll find all your local favorites, along with the infamous and obscure. The prices are fantastic. All money goes to the center and also the Writers themselves, unless otherwise noted.
Richard Modiano is the selfless Director of BB, and does an amazing job, along with the entire staff.
There is also a theater where you can catch screenings, or see a play.
LOVE this place!

Excellent place! I wish they were open more often, but it’s run by volunteers. I also wish they would do more experimental music shows! But I support this place. I love going in to browse and have often found some good bargain paperbacks. If you love poetry (I don’t, really…) you will LOVE this place. There’s something special about it…

Beyond Baroque is the real deal: a grass roots center for serious literary types here in L A (well, Venice CA if yr being picky). The nonprofit foundation has weathered many cultural and organizational storms and has re-​emerged better than ever, with more programs and an openness for innovation. In addition to the already noted workshops and readings listed in other reviews, I’d like to also mention that Beyond Baroque houses one of the largest archives of small press literary publications from southern California poets, and a bookstore of new and used hard-​to-​find books and CDs by literary and underground writers. One other thing, if you purchase a membership (I believe it is $ 35 for a year) you will receive free admission for most all readings and performances.

My writing is under V.F.Kilbride in the 1973 editions. I knew acouple of the original founders George Drury Smith and William Van Petten… both were wonderful people great friends and commited to individual freedom of expression without boundry. Sincerely, Vincent the Artist.

For a public literary community this is as good as it gets. The bookstore is only open on Fridays but hosts an unbelievable selection of chapbooks and anthologies. It’s a veritable treasure trove for the poetic mind.
I haven’t been to the Wednesday night workshop but the Saturday workshop was nice. An eclectic group of artists with an earnest desire to refine their writing. No one is going to tell you your work sucks, but they are going to tell you if they think you can do better if you can.
The workshops are free but bring money for a donation as the foundation is a member supported non profit.

beyond baroque is a literary art center established in 1969. it provides free writing workshops and open readings (of literary work-​original published and unpublished) for established and aspiring writers to develop/​improve their voice, while simultaneously creating supportive communities and open forums for experimentation.
this what their schedule is like:
–1^st sunday of the month: free open readings
–monday fiction: workshop focusing on short shorts, stories and novels
–tuesday-​creative non fiction: creative non fiction, memoirs, and prose
–wednesday: poetry workshop
–thursday-alt.screenplay: documentary, narrative, art film scripts, actor readings
–saturday: poetry
in addition to their free workshops, beyond baroque also has a bookstore. it was founded in 1998 and is mainly dedicated to emerging, over-​looked and out-​of-​print poetry, especially from Los Angeles-​based writers.
beyond baroque is member funded. for more information, visit their website:
. if you need any motivation to become a member, know that viggo mortensen is a member and often times shows up to special member only events. bet you didn’t know he wrote poetry, did you? i know, it’s crazy.