( tl/dr? Get the app here.)

Like thousands, your Lost Coast Outpost loves Eureka’s Arts Alive!, that one night a month where everyone agrees to pretend that we live in a vibrant and bustling city. And so, in the spirit of giving back to the fine folks at Eureka Main Street who throw this party, the LoCO hereby commences to publish Arts Alive! listings in augmented reality form.

The Lost Coast Outpost Arts Alive! listings are available through Layar, the #1 augmented reality app for iPhone and Android. “Augmented reality,” you ask? It’s a way of using your smart phone’s camera, GPS, compass and Internet connection to get more information about real-life places and events. For example: Say you’re at the corner of 2nd and F streets this Saturday night — October Arts Alive! night — and you want to know what’s going on around you. You whip out your phone, hold it up, look this way and that and right there in your viewport you receive info about all the art showings and musical events in your immediate vicinity.

Still don’t follow? Here, let this handsome French hipster demonstrate:

Now, say for some reason you don’t want to stand on a crowded sidewalk holding the phone a foot in front of your face and spinning around this way and that in large, broad arcs.

That’s cool — we liked the 20th century too.

But what you might want to do is check out Layar’s “list” and “map” views, which give you the same information in a far more discreet and arguably more useful form.

map

list

Get your LoCO-powered Arts Alive! layer right here. If you’re on your phone, that link will put Arts Alive! on your Layar app if you already have Layar. If you don’t, it’ll give you a link to download Layar from the approriate app store, and the Arts Alive! layer along with it. Or you can search for “humboldt,” “eureka,” “artsalive,” “lostcoastoutpost,” etc., etc. from within Layar. It’s all free, of course.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: If you don’t have a smart phone, you can still check the Google map below. Places with music on Arts Alive! night get a red marker and a star, because we love music.