The Zeno Space in Venice became a playground for the inner child in all of us this past weekend, as locals traded in the typical Saturday fare of bar-hopping or beach-going for a wholly unique experience.
Inside the event venue on April 27, people of all ages were connected to their childhood by competing in "marble runs," building contraptions to launch a marble as far as they could. The competition didn’t just have playfulness on the mind, as the event under the Something New banner crafted by Venice local Sean Jordan had an extra goal, that being to break the Guinness World Record for the longest marble run in recorded history. While the groups inside Zeno Space didn’t end up breaking the record, Jordan said that he succeeded in his mission to bring people together in the name of play.
"We didn’t end up breaking the world record, but … the event was about so much more than that," Jordan said. "It was about having fun and being playful, and creating a space where people feel comfortable letting their inner child out."
Jordan’s inspiration for crafting unique events came from seven years of working at Hulu managing live event portfolios, specifically music festivals such as Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Tennessee and Austin City Limits in the Texas capitol city. Seeing the power that live events had in bringing communities closer, Jordan took his know-how and transitioned into creating his own gatherings, beginning with a "random urge" to host a treasure hunt on the Westside in 2022. Gaining a considerable turnout for the one-off, Jordan began thinking about why the event worked, looking beyond just being a full-time treasure hunt crafter.
"I realized what made it so special wasn’t that it was a treasure hunt, what made it so special was that we were sharing in this kind of first time super playful experience together, because it’s not an opportunity that we get often, especially as we age, and so that inspired me then to host and design these kinds of brand new experiences that are super fun, playful social experiences on a more regular basis," Jordan said.
Taking the majority of 2023 to develop unique concepts, with his goal to either "spin" or "supercharge" a well-known event idea or "mashing it up with something else" to create something new, hence the branding.
After adventures such as "immersive trivia" where participants were themselves part of the answers, and a "Pinata Puzzle" event in January where locals bashed pinatas in hopes of finding the correct pieces to a puzzle, Jordan set his sights on the marble record attempt. Scouring the Guinness website for "what seemed reasonable" to try, he was accepted to try the marble runs by the organization with a laundry list of guidelines.
One such guideline was having either a Guinness-sponsored adjudicator or independent verifiers of the potential record. With the organization charging upwards of $16,000 to bring in an official judge, Jordan once again thought on his feet and hung outside the beaches of Venice with a sign to attract independent judges, eventually finding two people willing to be present at Zeno Space. After acquiring the necessary marble run sets and appropriate measurement materials, last weekend’s event was a go, though the record was "harder than you’d think," a mammoth feat of over four-and-a-half feet of flying marble.
Putting together the event, Jordan said, was "leaping into the unknown" alongside his community members, with over 50 locals showing up for the task.
"It’s been great to see the reception that it’s received, but moreover, it’s [been] transitioning my life into this," Jordan said of his endeavor. "I feel like I have had a lot more new experiences, which has made me a happier person, because the entire thesis behind this is that new experiences make us happy. They make us grow and they make us who we are and so honestly, inspiring new folks [to] have new experiences is super special to me."
Realizing that residents are waiting longer and longer to have children, Jordan sensed a lack of time his peers spent in fun and child-like activities, prompting Something New to bring the play to Venice.
"In Los Angeles, I think it’s tough for us to come together as [a] community because so much of our lives is spent in our homes and our cars, and so there are only a few opportunities to come together … but more importantly, I think that it’s a big opportunity to address playfulness," Jordan said.
The next Something New event will take place on June 1, as Jordan will be partnering with Best Friends Animal Society of Los Angeles to present a "Brand-New Puppy Party." For more information, visit somethingnew.rsvp.
