A panoramic ice cream social

There was a time, back in the 19th century, when panoramic landscape paintings epitomized entertainment -- long before radio, motion pictures, television and the Internet, of course. But a few devoted souls remain, to restore the panoramas that still exist or, in the case of the Velaslavasay Panorama, to create entirely new works for modern audiences.

“A flashy way of presenting a big painting is so different from how a painting would be presented to us these days,” said Sara Velas, the fine artist who founded the Panorama, located in the 85-year-old Union Theater on the outskirts of downtown L.A. after moving from its Hollywood digs in 2004.

Velas, 29, is currently at work creating a painting that is 28 feet in diameter and 10 feet tall. Such a work takes time: Velas says she began researching it in late 2001, started painting it in January and will have it done in February next year. It also takes funds, which is why the Velaslavasay Panorama is hosting an ice cream social -- not so much as a fund-raiser but as a way of familiarizing people with the space, which was originally built in 1921 and is now being restored.

A work in progress, the Panorama itself will not be open for viewing during the event, but visitors should find plenty to entertain themselves. Among the acts scheduled to perform are folk singer Charlie Cox, who will play songs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries on vintage instruments, and Erik Newman, who will perform various acts of derring-do on his “aerial bicycle.” A carnivorous plant exhibit is also on view, in the shade of the panorama’s backyard gazebo. And there will be ice cream -- from L.A.’s esteemed purveyor of exotic and premium flavors, Mashti Malone’s.

-- Susan Carpenter

Velaslavasay Panorama Ice Cream Sociable, 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday. 1122 W. 24th St., L.A. $10 suggested donation. (213) 746-2166, www.panoramaonview.org