Self Help Graphics & Art

Self Help Graphics & Art is a nonprofit printmaking and arts center at 1300 E 1st St in Boyle Heights, on the corner of 1st and Anderson, directly across the street from the Pico/Aliso Metro station. It started in 1970 as Art, Inc., a group of printmakers working out of an East LA garage, and took its current name when it incorporated as a nonprofit in 1973. Printmaking is still the core: the Professional Printmaking Program turns out limited-edition serigraphs and monoprints, and the workshops cover screen printing, intaglio, ceramics and aerosol art.

The building itself has been closed to the public since 2024 for a renovation that adds a professional printmaking studio, a community studio and artist space, a resource room for the print collection and new gathering areas. SHG's own pages put the reopening at the end of 2026 or in 2027. Until then its exhibitions, workshops and mercaditos run at satellite spots around LA County, and the office keeps weekday hours by phone at 323-881-6444.

The big night on the calendar is the free, all-ages Día de los Muertos celebration, now in its 53rd year. It starts with an afternoon procession from Mariachi Plaza and runs block-party style on Anderson Street right outside the building from 3 to 10 PM, with live music and dance as ofrendas, community altars, a Muertos Market, food vendors and face painting. The venue says the celebration draws more than 10,000 people, so plan on crowds.

Getting there without a car is the easy call: Pico/Aliso station is across 1st Street, and the 30 and 330 buses stop nearby. On foot it's about ten minutes west of Mariachi Plaza and twenty minutes over the 1st Street Bridge from Little Tokyo. Drivers get a small gated lot entered from 1st Street next to the building, plus street parking.