Growing community everywhere she goes
Annie O’Rourke
During the pandemic, neighbors in Larchmont Village planned a local Halloween so families and children could enjoy the holiday safely, complete with one home rigging a shoot that blasted contact-free candy at the trick-or-treaters. In 2023, the Bronson Avenue block party was reinvigorated when COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. It attracted roughly 1,500 people and raised $1,800 for Alexandria House, the transitional home for women and children. The 2024 Block Party in April was even bigger, with an estimated 2,500 attendees, food trucks and more community partners, such as the Rotary Club sponsoring a carnival game and kitten adoptions from Tailwaggers.
More than $5,130 was raised for Alexandria House. Although it took a group of committed neighbors to plan, the success of those events was due in large part to Annie O’Rourke, a Larchmont Village resident who shouldered the marketing, branding and sponsorships. Through her involvement, O’Rourke sought community and connection in her new home.
O’Rourke is an enthusiastic organizer. As a freelance producer, mainly working in online marketing content for Netflix and major retailers, she understands how to get things done. However, she credits her extended family for learning how to plan events.
Her Irish-born father was the eldest of eight and the only one to emigrate to the U.S., so she didn’t see her 15 Irish cousins that often, but her mother, born to an Irish family in the U.S., was also one of eight children, creating an instant community of aunts, uncles and 18 cousins for O’Rourke and her sister while growing up in New Jersey.
“My organizational ability comes from being with so many cousins and organizing activities,” she explains. “As the oldest girl, everyone looked to me to plan things.”
O’Rourke graduated from Cornell University and moved first to New York City, then to San Francisco to work in advertising. “I would have bet you a million dollars that I would not have ended up in L.A.,” she states, but in 2011, after three years of long-distance dating, she joined her then boyfriend, now husband, Marcus Taormina, a film visual special effects supervisor.
Los Angeles can be a tough transition, and it wasn’t until the 2019 July 4 weekend, when they bought a house in Larchmont Village, that O’Rourke felt at home.
“We immediately got a flier for a Bronson block party. It was quaint, but lovely,” O’Rourke remembers. Their sons Ronan, 9, and Harvey, 7, enjoyed the music and activities. She made some friends and soon got involved in the life of the neighborhood.
When the coronavirus hit and shut everything down, that’s when O’Rourke and her neighbor Kelly McAdams began planning another way to foster connection during what had become an isolating time, resulting in the 2020, 2021 and 2022 safe Halloween events.
Five years after moving into the Larchmont Village neighborhood, O’Rourke states, “I feel so much more rooted. I love the community, [and]that my kids feel safe.”
Annie O’Rourke is equally involved in her children’s school, Larchmont Charter School – Wilshire, and says, “As a charter school it relies on a lot of parent involvement.” She explains, “I often have flexibility in my work, so I can manage a volunteer sign-up form for our school. I work on tent pole events, campus-specific events and communications. I am head of LOOP [Larchmont Organization Of Parents] at our campus.”
This year the school moved campuses, from its Hollygrove campus to Wilshire Boulevard, necessitating even more parent involvement. “We built a new library from scratch. This summer we have a big campaign plan for parents to come paint and plant or garden,” O’Rourke states. “We rely on parents to do the literal and figurative heavy lifting.
”Noting that there is more diversity in public school options and in the city at large than what she experienced in New Jersey, O’Rourke marvels, “I found a beautiful community quite different from what I grew up with. There’s top to bottom diversity and I’m very grateful for it — that I can raise my kids in a city that offers that.”
Annie O’Rourke reflects on her own journey and what is important to her and summarizes, “You have to grow your own community and to grow where you’re planted. I grew up in a big family and I’m trying to create that for my kids. That is what’s important to me.”
Category: People