Christopher Alves
Sept. 1982 — Present

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The Eagle Rock Yacht Club


...Over the past 5 years, I have worked to partner with local parks and city leaders to provide young people with fun, safe and creative experiences that go beyond what they might have access to at school. —Yacht Grub (kids cooking), Yacht Plot (community gardening), Yacht Pix (kids photography) and our flagship program, Yacht Crew (Kids Dodgeball) -- All provide opportunities for angelenos to get involved in their communities, that start with local youth.

That said, we are constantly organizing tournaments, group bike rides, outings and events which require various coordination, project management and communication skills.

Below are a few specific highlights of those events and programs I’ve worked and collaborated to create as President of The Yacht Club. 

Yacht Crew/Youth Dodgeball:



Held on nearly every Friday night, I work with the Oakwood, North Hollywood, and Glassell Rec Centers to organize volunteers and youth from the community to provide them with a free late-night activity. Beyond giving participants something totally radical to do on Friday nights, they are also taught structure and basic life skills, i.e. responsibility, showing up on time, honesty, teamwork and how to give a killer High-five. This is the Yacht Club's longest running program Serving over 350 youth and approximately 50 volunteers.

Yacht Pix/Youth Photography:



One of the programs I’ve overseen is our youth photography workshop at Glassell Recreation Center.  Securing volunteers and 8 local youth to take part in this weekly photography workshop. The course includes in-class lessons, one on one time, a field trip to the Annenberg Space for Photography, and an interpretive photo-scavenger hunt. The course concludes with a reception hosted at Glassell Recreation Center where the community is invited to view each student’s work in a gallery style exhibition.

Glassell Park Community Garden Mural:

During the Winter of 2013 we partnered with Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell, and the Glassell Park Community Garden and artist Pip Craighead to create a mural in the back of the garden.  

Yacht Grub/Youth Cooking Classes:



Yacht Grub is a collaboration with Whole Foods Market, creating a cooking and nutrition class for teens in Venice and Glassell Park. The goal of this six week course was to give students confidence in the kitchen while they learn healthy cooking, practical nutrition information, basic knife skills and how to read ingredient labels. 8-10 students learned two new recipes each week in this two hour class.


Player Season Gifts:



Each dodgeball season coincides with a season theme, this theme influences various common good events and social actives throughout the season. We also pull inspiration from our theme for our season’s gift. Each of these gifts have been designed in collaboration while I’ve overseen production and fabrication of each gift. 

Here are a few examples: 
California Drought: Reusable water bottle
Space: NASA style patch + t-shirt
Transportation: Luggage Tag

Metro Tour:



In the summer of 2016, our season’s dodgeball theme was “Transportation” so we organized an exclusive look behind the scenes at LA Metro's rail operations for our members. Metro’s Division 20 is the Maintenance & Operations facility for the 17.5 mile long Metro Red & Purple Lines, or Los Angeles’ only heavy rail subway system. The facility is responsible for maintaining and operating 104 heavy rail subway cars that see over 47.5 million annual boardings. During the tour we saw where and how the maintenance takes place on the vehicles as well as where and how the trains are dispatched every morning to make roll-out. Needless to say we geeked out pretty hard core. Special thanks to Rubina Ghazarian, Andres Fernando Di Zitti and the crew at Division 20 for making it all happen.

Los Angeles Mystery Tour:


On June 25th, 2016 we convinced 55 adults to blindly follow us as we led them on a mysterious tour across Los Angeles– A full day of local history, debauchery, and vegetarian hot dogs.

Our Itinerary:
Meet: Union Station
Stop 1: Arts District Brewing
Stop 2: Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round
Stop 3: Vista Hermosa Park
Stop 4: Bob Bakers Marionettes
Stop 5: Jumbos Clown Room
Stop 6: Barnsdall Art Park
Stop 7: HMS Bounty

Sadie Hawkins Dance Party of Awesome:




On Oct. 5th, 2013 we hosted our 3rd iteration of our largest fundraiser of the year. The Sadie Hawkins Dance Party of Awesome was inside the Fred Harvey Room at Union Station. Over 300 Guests mixed, mingled, and danced the night away.

An event of this scale would be impossible without the help of some amazing and dedicated volunteers. 


Collaborations:

ERYC partnered with Endo Customs to create one awesome bike kit. The back of the jersey reads “Thank you, for not being a dick” a somewhat clever take on the #1 rule of the Yacht Club.

In 2015 teamed up with NYC boutique beach towel company Breezeway for a limited edition line of towels. The collaborative towel designs take inspiration from both coasts and brands, representing the intersection of visual language for both groups. Yacht Club: West, based on the concept of water from above, displays a silhouette of a land mass juxtaposed by ocean swells. Yacht Club: East zooms in closer and examines water from sea level, graphically showcasing the movement of the ocean. Yes, we’ve officially squashed the East Coast/West Coast beef and come together in unity through beach towels. Check out the micro-site

Too Many Community Cleanups to Count:


We’re not very shy when it comes to getting our hands dirty. We’ve participated in many a community cleanup. Over the past 4 years we have participated in the Los Angeles River Cleanup where thirty-five+ Yacht Club members meet up at the Sunnyknook Footbridge to lend a hand. Fueled by caffeine and good company, we waste no time soaking up the various forgotten treasures that the river has claimed.
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Although all of these projects have been accomplished under my leadership, none of it would have been possible without the help and dedication of some really incredible boardmembers and volunteers, most of which I have the pleasure to call my friends. I have a lot of gratitude and respect for each and every one of them.
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