Noah Tannenbaum works on a cutting board with instructor Todd Regalado looking on during a woodworking class at LA Woodshop.
(Dania Maxwell / For The Times)
6 L.A. spots to carve out your woodworking dreams
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I became inspired to become a woodworker by Vince Skelly’s tree trunk bookshelves. On exhibit earlier this year at Craft Contemporary near the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, these are tree trunks with one slot precisely carved out to fit a select stack of exhibit catalogs perfectly. Seeing them felt like Cupid had just shot an arrow into my art heart.
The very next day I returned to Craft Contemporary, where Skelly was participating in a makers panel. At the reception, I asked him for advice on how, as a complete beginner, I might get started on making tree trunk bookshelves. He cordially shared practical advice, emphasizing safety. I followed this advice, and the result came out looking like little chunks of nothingness. That’s how I knew I needed further guidance.
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Our journalists independently visited every spot recommended in this guide. We do not accept free meals or experiences. What should we check out next? Send ideas to guides@latimes.com.
“Start small” is the advice I received next, from Eric Clem, co-founder of LA Woodshop. Aspiring woodworkers get discouraged when they try to build the Gamble House themselves with no training. It’s also very dangerous, Clem warned me.
I followed this advice too, scaling back my first woodworking goal to making my own drumsticks. The pursuit of this doable dream led me into an exploration of L.A. woodworking resources for beginners who feel inspiration ranging from “I want to make something out of wood” to “I want to make woodworking part of my life.”
The path to becoming a woodworker in L.A. extends from taking a one-day introductory class to borrowing tools to enrolling at community college. My exploration has been fulfilling, guided by cheerful people who have exhausted all of their friends and family with obsessive talk of woodworking and would like nothing more than to share their passion with you.
Showing Places
LA Woodshop
Downtown L.A. Woodshop
(Dania Maxwell / For The Times)
Offers: Frequent introductory classes with follow-ups for making tableware, picture frames and furniture
A cavernous space in a rugged stretch of downtown Los Angeles, LA Woodshop’s pricey classes establish confidence and camaraderie for woodworking beginners. You could earn 50 just-for-fun points for best imitating the rumbling, shredding sound of a jointer, the machine used to start flattening wood. I did not win that contest but did pick up points for guessing that cherry was one type of wood we could use to make our cutting boards. Making a game out of it helped keep everyone receptive to the serious business of a safe introduction to daunting, enthralling machines.
I especially liked how my teacher Natalie Gordon kept saying, “Yup! Yup! Nice!” while guiding me carefully through proper use of a bandsaw. It’s also cool that you can chat with professionals in residence, like Sam Klemick, a designer whose chairs have legs like bowling pins. She started her woodworking career here, finding LA Woodshop to be “approachable and down to earth,” letting her “fall in love with using her hands and how in-the-moment you have to be.”
A cavernous space in a rugged stretch of downtown Los Angeles, LA Woodshop’s pricey classes establish confidence and camaraderie for woodworking beginners. You could earn 50 just-for-fun points for best imitating the rumbling, shredding sound of a jointer, the machine used to start flattening wood. I did not win that contest but did pick up points for guessing that cherry was one type of wood we could use to make our cutting boards. Making a game out of it helped keep everyone receptive to the serious business of a safe introduction to daunting, enthralling machines.
I especially liked how my teacher Natalie Gordon kept saying, “Yup! Yup! Nice!” while guiding me carefully through proper use of a bandsaw. It’s also cool that you can chat with professionals in residence, like Sam Klemick, a designer whose chairs have legs like bowling pins. She started her woodworking career here, finding LA Woodshop to be “approachable and down to earth,” letting her “fall in love with using her hands and how in-the-moment you have to be.”
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San Pedro Street Station
Allied Woodshop
East Los Angeles Woodshop
(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
Offers: Intro to Woodworking, Intro and Intermediate DIY, Woodworking Club
Allied Woodshop, based just east of downtown Los Angeles, offers students the chance to learn the basics. Though the Intro to Woodworking class is $270, the courses are six hours long and cover the entire process of designing and making a cutting board. For follow-up, the woodworking club offers project kits based on skill level and guided practice using unplugged hand tools, at $60 per weekly session.
Every Intro to Woodworking class goes over the use of a planer, table saw, band saw, jointer and drill press, with demonstrations and safety precautions for each machine. During the class I took, we were offered the choice of three types of wood: walnut, cherry and maple.
Though some of my classmates wanted more sleek and Midcentury Modern-looking boards, I decided to turn my cherry wood into what I call the “bean board”: a kidney bean-shaped charcuterie board that I labeled with “BEANS” on one side and “NO BEANS” on the other.
The woman-owned educational wood shop also offers classes led by and designated specifically for female, trans and nonbinary students. Its sister business, Allied Woodworkers, provides studio space for more experienced woodworkers.
Allied Woodshop, based just east of downtown Los Angeles, offers students the chance to learn the basics. Though the Intro to Woodworking class is $270, the courses are six hours long and cover the entire process of designing and making a cutting board. For follow-up, the woodworking club offers project kits based on skill level and guided practice using unplugged hand tools, at $60 per weekly session.
Every Intro to Woodworking class goes over the use of a planer, table saw, band saw, jointer and drill press, with demonstrations and safety precautions for each machine. During the class I took, we were offered the choice of three types of wood: walnut, cherry and maple.
Though some of my classmates wanted more sleek and Midcentury Modern-looking boards, I decided to turn my cherry wood into what I call the “bean board”: a kidney bean-shaped charcuterie board that I labeled with “BEANS” on one side and “NO BEANS” on the other.
The woman-owned educational wood shop also offers classes led by and designated specifically for female, trans and nonbinary students. Its sister business, Allied Woodworkers, provides studio space for more experienced woodworkers.
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Coyotl + Macehualli
El Sereno Nonprofit
(Dania Maxwell / For The Times)
Offers: Introductory classes, tool library and skill sharing in East LA.
Coyotl + Macehualli is a storefront in El Sereno with bustling clientele, a whale sculpture hanging from the ceiling and bookshelves dedicated to environmental justice. It’s a welcoming community to develop woodworking skills, which also doubles as a nonprofit advocating for open spaces. For around $80 or 30 volunteer hours per year, you can rent tools for your next projects here and get sage advice.
I heard about Coyotol + Macehualli from artist Graham Coates Smith, whom I met at Craft Contemporary. He is grateful to be learning about woodworking from “uncles who have been doing it forever.” I had that experience with Ben Gonzalez, a carpenter who leads the introduction to woodworking classes here. Talking with him is like talking to a friendly tree about wood. He showed me how to cut a maple board down to size and shape it on a lathe. Then he gave me a homemade blend of linseed oil, beeswax and mineral spirits so my drumsticks will glisten.
Coyotl + Macehualli is a storefront in El Sereno with bustling clientele, a whale sculpture hanging from the ceiling and bookshelves dedicated to environmental justice. It’s a welcoming community to develop woodworking skills, which also doubles as a nonprofit advocating for open spaces. For around $80 or 30 volunteer hours per year, you can rent tools for your next projects here and get sage advice.
I heard about Coyotol + Macehualli from artist Graham Coates Smith, whom I met at Craft Contemporary. He is grateful to be learning about woodworking from “uncles who have been doing it forever.” I had that experience with Ben Gonzalez, a carpenter who leads the introduction to woodworking classes here. Talking with him is like talking to a friendly tree about wood. He showed me how to cut a maple board down to size and shape it on a lathe. Then he gave me a homemade blend of linseed oil, beeswax and mineral spirits so my drumsticks will glisten.
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Makers Hub
Compton Tool store
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)
Offers: Introductory classes, tool library, monthly open woodshop in Compton
Inside, the friendly staff was listening to Stereolab. The woodshop is outdoors, featuring views of spiny cactus and Mexican fan palms, with ambient traffic noise drowned out by the buzz of blades. The instructor, Ramiro Garate, was gently adamant about safety: “If you’re tired, wait ‘til you have the energy. Accidents happen when people are tired.”
We were energized, admiring patterns we saw emerging in our black walnut planks: a face in profile, a bow and arrow, the Salton Sea. We took a lunch break for elotes and raspados from a street vendor. My classmate Ashley Parish said, “Woodworking is such a healthy, meditative process and it makes me feel less intimidated by machines.” Her friend Sharon Senko agreed: “It’s good for building confidence.” I wanted to say goodbye to them when I left, but they were still engrossed in sanding their charcuterie boards to absolute smoothness. Maybe we will meet again someday at the monthly open woodshop, where you can bring projects from home to work on with the friendly experts.
Inside, the friendly staff was listening to Stereolab. The woodshop is outdoors, featuring views of spiny cactus and Mexican fan palms, with ambient traffic noise drowned out by the buzz of blades. The instructor, Ramiro Garate, was gently adamant about safety: “If you’re tired, wait ‘til you have the energy. Accidents happen when people are tired.”
We were energized, admiring patterns we saw emerging in our black walnut planks: a face in profile, a bow and arrow, the Salton Sea. We took a lunch break for elotes and raspados from a street vendor. My classmate Ashley Parish said, “Woodworking is such a healthy, meditative process and it makes me feel less intimidated by machines.” Her friend Sharon Senko agreed: “It’s good for building confidence.” I wanted to say goodbye to them when I left, but they were still engrossed in sanding their charcuterie boards to absolute smoothness. Maybe we will meet again someday at the monthly open woodshop, where you can bring projects from home to work on with the friendly experts.
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LA Tool Library
Koreatown Tool Library
Chih-Wei Hsu shows off the products available at the Los Angeles Tool Library.
(Mark Gozonsky / For The Times)
Offers: Affordable equipment rental and skill sharing in Koreatown
Finding the LA Tool Library was a treasure hunt. Shortcut: It’s in the basement of the Immanuel Presbyterian Church and you enter below the canopy on Berendo Street.
I met volunteer Joyce Jang in the elevator and we became instant pals, sitting down to chat on a comfy old sofa beneath twinkly lights softening the space next to metal racks of tools. Soon we were joined by a couple there to borrow tools and Joyce wanted to know the latest on their home improvement project. Nicole Batz said the library is a less expensive and more fulfilling option than renting tools from a big-box store: “You don’t even have to borrow anything, you can just hang out and learn.”
This proved true for me because the next person who showed up was Ali Chen, there to take pictures for her new L.A. woodworking newspaper, Wood on the Street. In her spare time, she is taking welding classes in the hope of developing woodworking equipment for people with disabilities. I got the feeling that making these connections happens all the time here. As Joyce said, “You can’t curate serendipity, but here it feels like you can.”
Finding the LA Tool Library was a treasure hunt. Shortcut: It’s in the basement of the Immanuel Presbyterian Church and you enter below the canopy on Berendo Street.
I met volunteer Joyce Jang in the elevator and we became instant pals, sitting down to chat on a comfy old sofa beneath twinkly lights softening the space next to metal racks of tools. Soon we were joined by a couple there to borrow tools and Joyce wanted to know the latest on their home improvement project. Nicole Batz said the library is a less expensive and more fulfilling option than renting tools from a big-box store: “You don’t even have to borrow anything, you can just hang out and learn.”
This proved true for me because the next person who showed up was Ali Chen, there to take pictures for her new L.A. woodworking newspaper, Wood on the Street. In her spare time, she is taking welding classes in the hope of developing woodworking equipment for people with disabilities. I got the feeling that making these connections happens all the time here. As Joyce said, “You can’t curate serendipity, but here it feels like you can.”
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Wilshire / Vermont Station
Cerritos College Woodworking Department
Norwalk College or University
(Dania Maxwell / For The Times)
Offers: State-of-the-art training for aspiring professionals and supremely dedicated hobbyists
Every good woodworking instructor I met in L.A. is connected somehow to Cerritos College. The woodworking program is typically three semesters long. At $46 per unit, the total cost to earn a certificate is about $1,500, with an additional $1,000 for fees and materials. A scholarship fund donated by a grateful alum provides financial aid.
In a vast and immaculate workshop, I saw people deep in relaxed concentration, building chairs, cabinets and card tables based on exquisitely detailed and lovingly notated diagrams. Everyone agreed that the program combines expert instruction with warmth and camaraderie. Students learn cabinet- and furniture-making using implements ranging from hand and power tools to computer-aided design.
Every good woodworking instructor I met in L.A. is connected somehow to Cerritos College. The woodworking program is typically three semesters long. At $46 per unit, the total cost to earn a certificate is about $1,500, with an additional $1,000 for fees and materials. A scholarship fund donated by a grateful alum provides financial aid.
In a vast and immaculate workshop, I saw people deep in relaxed concentration, building chairs, cabinets and card tables based on exquisitely detailed and lovingly notated diagrams. Everyone agreed that the program combines expert instruction with warmth and camaraderie. Students learn cabinet- and furniture-making using implements ranging from hand and power tools to computer-aided design.
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