Echo Park Lake Rehab EIR to go before City tomorrow

View from the top of the Clinton Stairs

April 2011 is just around the corner, and you know what that means – the beginning of a two-year long and very stinky Echo Park Lake Rehabilitation project.

Tomorrow is the day the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) goes to the City Council Energy and Environment Committee for review. It’s difficult to tell whether or not the final EIR makes Echo Park activists happy -the nearly 500 page EIR is quite complicated and difficult to interpret (to fully understand everything you’d probably need a degree in City Planning, Architecture, and Environmental Policy of some sort). Residents with concerns had until August 30, 2010 to submit comments for review prior to the final EIR.

You can download the Final EIR (if you dare, the file is quite large) by clicking here.

Pollution and much-needed updates to the filtration systems are behind the Prop O funded rehab project, which is scheduled for April 2011. They will drain the 13 acre lake and haul out approximately 50,000 cubic feet of soil from the bottom, replace the lake liner, rebuild the wetlands, and replant other vegetation (including the lotus bed). They filtration systems will also be updated, as the lake does collect water runoff from the city, and will help reduce the amount of city water used to keep the lake levels high.

Wildlife activists and bird lovers have been concerned with the state of the migratory birds once the lake is drained. A compromise has been reached, and the engineers will include four temporary pools for migratory birds.

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Happy America Recycles Day!

Flickr photo via expatriotact

Even though I despise all the noise our trash trucks make, I love that Los Angeles is a leading city when it comes to recycling its trash. According to the Daily News, the city recycles 65 percent of its trash (9.2 million tons each year, residential and commercial pickup).

That’s a pretty decent number, compared to the national average of 32.7%. New York recycles 55%, Chicago 52%, and Houston has a ghastly low of 17%, according to the article. San Francisco leads the percentage pack, though a smaller city, with a high of 72%.

Keep recycling!

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Echo Park’s Week in Music

For the week of Monday, November 22 through Sunday, November 28

Monday
Monday Night Residency: The Black Apples with Exploding Flowers, Young Hunting, Dream Tapes @ Echo
Halloween Swim Team, Dreamgoatz, Religious Girls, Luna is Honey, The Lingonberries @ Pehrspace

Tuesday
Kitten, Dizzy Stilettos, Ingenue @ Echo
Iheartcomix, Media Contender and Paparazzi present CYP2 with Midnight Juggernauts, The Naked and Famous, Diamond Rings, Doorly, Franki Chan, Paparazzi @ Echoplex
Belleruche, Pollyn @ Bootleg Theater

Wednesday
Dub Club @ Echoplex
The Red River @ Origami Vinyl
Cliff Wagner and The Old Number 7 @ Taix Lounge
Live Jazz every Wednesday Night at 7:00 pm @ Downbeat Cafe

Thursday – Thanksgiving!
The Echo is closed all day

Friday
Club Underground @ Echo
Bearracuda @ Echoplex
Bird and Batteries @ Origami Vinyl
Lovers and Poets @ Taix Lounge

Saturday
Funky Sole @ Echo
Fiction Company @ Origami Vinyl
Green Screen Door, Animal Eye, Trapsps @ Pehrspace
Mr. Ross Show, Edentrain @ Taix Lounge

Sunday
Part Time Punks @ Echo
International Tennis Champions, Paulie Pesh, Farspeaker @ Bootleg Theater

For more information on weekly musical events like club nights, see our community resource pages.Visit the venue website for more information on the cost and times of shows. This list may not represent all the musical events happening in Echo Park this week – feel free to add more events in the comment section. All events listed are subject to change at any time. New events announced for the week after this posting may not be included.

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Video: Pop-Up Pie Shop at the Machine Project

Miss out on the Machine Project’s Pop-Up Pie Shop last Thursday? Here’s a video of stills and audio published on the KPCC website. Click here for the full story and watch the video below!’

Pop-Up Pie Shop in Echo Park from 89.3 KPCC on Vimeo.

Echo Park-ian Sarah Williams is behind the Fruit and Flour take-n-bake/DIY pie kit biz – be sure to check out her website as well!

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Upcoming hearing on Sunset Flats Development in Echo Park

Rough outline of where Sunset Flats will be built according to a city hearing notice

Last week, we wrote about the Sunset Flats development – a 60+ unit apartment complex planned for the form Echo Park Community Garden site along Sunset Blvd. and Rosemont. Coming up on Monday, November 22, the city will hold a hearing on the requested variances for the project, including a density bonus. Echo Park Now has learned that there will be no actual decision made on the project, but will just be a meeting with the hearing officer. A decision will be made on January 13, 2011.

Everyone is still encouraged to submit letters for the record as well as show up to the hearing (to protest or support the project) as every little thing does make a difference.

For those not familiar with the project, here’s the low-down (and some updates from previous reports):

  • 12 total buildings with 62 total units (one-two bedrooms) and commercial storefronts
  • 10-11 low-income units will be provided, which is the minimum required for this project
  • Existing structures (approximately 6 buildings with 11 units) will be removed
  • Project is a mixed-use project where the developer is applying to combine residential zoning with commercial zoning under SB 1818
  • 113 parking spaces (101 are required) with 12 of those being guest parking
  • Front of project, along Sunset, will be five stories if the developer gets approval from the city (the developer is arguing for 12 extra feet, making the project five stories at a total of 57 feet)
  • Back of project, along Elsinore, will be two stories
  • All parking will be access through Elsinore street, which will be a terrible impact on that small neighborhood

The bottom line is, the problem with this development is that although the developer can legally build a structure this size, it’s not going to serve the community. In addition, the issue has blown up because of the developer’s lack of communication with the community (including even those living in houses they plan to demolish), and there’s a sense that they are pretty hot-headed. For instance, at the neighborhood council meeting last month, architect Jay Vanos told everyone he could build a bigger, 127-unit complex if he wanted. This was right before the committee voted to approve the project (despite objections by residents), so it seems the threat worked. We do have one office on our side – Garcetti has said publicly that he remains on the community’s side.

In fact, it’s gotten quite nasty. On the comments section of an Eastsider LA, someone who identifies himself as “Al” and has some relationship with the developer (perhaps a consultant?)  writes, “If the proposed building will not be acceptable then we will build what is by RIGHT and then it will be bigger.” Seems a little threatening for someone trying to get the neighborhood’s support.

Read more

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Changes for the Flea Market at Dodger Stadium

It looks like the short-lived LA Flea Market at Dodger Stadium is no longer – after just a few Sunday flea markets, the LA Flea Market partners split. In its place is the newly-named Flea Market at Dodger Stadium, a similar concept as the prior market now on Saturdays and featuring live bands, food trucks, a kids area, up to 600 sellers, and more.

The Flea Market was set to debut tomorrow (Saturday, November 20), but with rain on the forecast it looks like the event will be rescheduled for next month on December 18. We were sort-of looking forward to the opening tomorrow – they have teamed up with Homeboy Industries for the Flea Market on a regular basis, but had also planned for a charity drive with the non-profit organization for tomorrow. “Not Another Toy” drive, as it’s being called, is just that – instead of gifting toys, they’ll help anyone who has fallen on hard economic times and help with getting food, clothes for job interviews, and other everyday needs. We expect that the December debut will also feature the holiday charity drive.

When it does happen, parking is $5, you can enter through Downtown Gate (adjacent to the 110 south exit/Stadium Way) or the Sunset Gate (Stadium Way /Elysian Park Avenue). Click here for info about tickets, times and vendors.

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LA Times now delivering everywhere – supposedly

This house has better luck, except for the window... Flickr photo via iamrob

When I first moved to Echo Park, I had just graduated from college and moved into the cheapest apartment I could find. At $550 per month and with a roommate I found on Craigslist, I learned (after moving in) that my very first, very cheap post-college apartment had a bit of a, well, cockroach issue. And then we found the hole the mice were coming through. And the street this first post-college apartment was on had a bit of a crime issue. Suffice to say it wasn’t the best living, and not all streets in Echo Park are like that, but it worked at the time.

(Note: My first day there, with my U-Haul parked out front, an LAPD car pulled up. One of the officers asked us, “Who’s moving in?” I replied in my usual bubbly tone, “Me!!” They shook their heads and continued on… a sign of what to expect perhaps?)

Whatever the cockroach issues or the crime issue, one of the things I could never solve, however, was the LA Times newspaper delivery. While I realized it could be due to my zip code or maybe just because my street was really that bad, that Sunday Times never arrived, and after a couple of months of calling I couldn’t get a straight answer from the LA Times.

One of my fave blog reads, Franklin Avenue, posted about this issue today and revealed that the LA Times is now allowing subscribers to “opt-in” on receiving the LA Times Magazine along with their Sunday paper. Apparently the Magazine was only available in certain zip codes, and, as the blog describes: “…but, ahem, apparently Franklin Avenue HQ isn’t in an upscale enough part of SoCal.” We feel ya!

So now those “undesirable zip codes,” as Franklin Avenue describes it, can no receive both the Sunday Times and the Magazine… That is, if you can get the Times to deliver in the first place.

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Stick around this Thanksgiving and volunteer

This year marks the 12th annual Gobble Gobble Give – what started out as a couple of Echo Park residents cooking Thanksgiving meals for a few homeless in the neighborhood has turned into a huge community effort where 2,000 people in need are fed, clothed, and just helped out in general.

The organizers need your donations of money, food, clothing, water, shoes, blankets, soap, toothbrush kits, or whatever you can offer to help. Sign up to volunteer on their website (and do it soon!).

Gobble Gobble Give
Thursday, November 25 from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm
The Echo, 1822 West Sunset Blvd.

Ana Calderon will be DJ’ing. With special thanks to American Apparel, At The Echo, and everyone involved.

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Hear from the Sunset Flats developers tonight!

The Echo Park Improvement Association is finally getting a chance to speak with the developers behind the proposed Sunset Flats project, the site of the old Echo Park Community Garden on the west side of Echo Park on Sunset and Rosemont.

Tonight’s Echo Park Improvement Association Neighborhood Issues meeting will not be the first time the organization (which Echo Park Now is a member of) has taken up the issue, but this will be the first time the developer has agreed to attend a meeting.

The city has scheduled a public hearing for Monday, November 22 to discuss the variances involved in the project, so this will be your last chance to hear from the developer and get yourself educated. You are also encouraged to send a letter to the City with your comments for public record, more information here.

Everyone is invited to attend the meeting, taking place at Taix Restaurant in the back room at 7:00 pm tonight (Wednesday). Click here for the full agenda.

This story will continue to develop here on Echo Park Now, stay tuned as we learn more!

Echo Park Improvement Association Neighborhood Issues Committee
Wednesday, November 17, 2010, 7 pm
Taix Restaurant, 1911 West Sunset Boulevard

UPDATE:

The developer is no longer coming to tonight’s meeting, but EPIA members will still discuss the project in detail.

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Yum! Harvest Beer Fest at Echo/Echoplex

We know what we’re doing this weekend!

The First Annual Harvest Beer Fest, sponsored in part by Spaceland Productions, along with Anderson Valley Brewing Co., El Prado and Malo Restaurant, will be held at the Echoplex and Echo this weekend – November 20! The fest boasts LA-based food trucks, entertainment and over 50 West Coast and national brews. Local favorite bands such as Vaud & the Villains, Shannon & the Clams, Blasting Company, and Last Round Down will provide live entertainment throughout the day, and ticket sale proceeds will benefit 826LA.

The Harvest Beer Fest is 21+ for entry; attendees must bring a valid ID for entry into the event.

General Admission: $30/person; includes unlimited sample sized pours. Food is available for purchase from food trucks at the event. Tickets are available for purchase on TicketWeb.

First Annual Harvest Beer Fest
Saturday November 20, 2010
12:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Echoplex and Echo
1154 Glendale Blvd

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Echo Park’s Week in Music

For the week of Monday, November 15 through Sunday, Novmber 21

Monday
Monday Night Residency: The Black Apples, LA Font, Oh Darling, So Many Wizards @Echo
Captain Ahab, Laco$Te, The Paradox of Time, Oscillator, I.E., DJ Sara Tea @ Pehrspace
El Ten Eleven @ Origami Vinyl

Tuesday
Legendary Pink Dots, We Are The World, Black Rainbow @ Echo
Idlewild, Happy Hollows @ Echo – Cancelled
Oh No Oh My (Austin, Tx), Pomegranates (Cincinnati, Oh), Rabbits Rabbits Rabbits @ Bootleg TheateR

Wednesday
Idlewild, Happy Hollows @ Echo – Cancelled
Dub Club Presents: The Expanders, Premiere Of Documentray “Rock Steady: The Roots Of Reggae,” DJ Mossman @ Echoplex
Ferraby Lionheart, Henry Wolfe, Nightfur @ Bootleg Theater
The Psychedlic Cowboys and “The Country” @ Taix Lounge
Live Jazz every Wednesday Night at 7:00 pm @ Downbeat Cafe

Thursday
Pepper Rabbit  Hands, Square On Square, The Silent Comedy @ Echo
Down and Derby Roller Disco @ Echoplex
Kitten, Pepper Rabbit @ Origami Vinyl
Dudley Saunders @ Taix Lounge

Friday
Avi Buffalo, Wildbunch, Lord Huron @ Echoplex
Club Underground with Shadow Shadow Shade @ Echo
TRMRS @ Pehrspace
Tunng, April Smith and the Great Picture Show, The Good Listeners @ Bootleg Theater
Whitman, Ezra Buchla @ Origami Vinyl

Saturday
Harvest Beer Fest: Vaud and The Villains, Shannon and The Clams, Last Round Down, The Blasting Company @ Echoplex & Echo
Awol One, Acid Reign, Ecid, Noah 23, Jordan Miche, Red Foxx, Open Mic Freestyle Jam with Rare Grooves, DJ Stereotype @ Pehrspace
Bob Mould, Nico Stai @ Bootleg Theater
Sisu @ Origami Vinyl
Violeta Bioletti, Dogweed, Rough Church @ Taix Lounge

Sunday
Part Time Punks @ Echo
Lord Huron 7″ Release Part @ Origami Vinyl

For more information on weekly musical events like club nights, see our community resource pages.Visit the venue website for more information on the cost and times of shows. This list may not represent all the musical events happening in Echo Park this week – feel free to add more events in the comment section. All events listed are subject to change at any time. New events announced for the week after this posting may not be included.

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Echo Park’s Missed Connections

November 2, 2010
You: A Sweet Fraulein in the street wearing hand-me-downs. Me: In Grandpa’s Lederhosen with real Pumpkin on my head. Because of some questionable decision making skills I decided to get a beer instead of chatting more with you. And there was no beer, and I couldn’t find you at the party. Uff-da!

November 7, 2010
cute hipster girl in blue/green glasses at Booty LA – m4w
You were this ridiculously cute girl with dark hair, funky glasses and lacy tights in the front row at at Booty LA. I pulled you up on stage and sang some Peter Gabriel to you and gave you a hug out in the parking lot. My ride was leaving and I didn’t have time to ask for your name or number. I would love to watch Say Anything with you sometime.

November 9, 2010
thanks for the smile at Vons – m4w
I was the guy in the glasses and light grey jacket, looking dumb-founded around 10 pm tonight at the Echo Park Vons. Thanks for looking back at me and smiling. Made my day.

November 11, 2010
brite spot wed night – m4w – 29
to the brunette at brite spot with her blonde friend
i should’ve come back in and introduced myself
because missed connections are lame 🙁

Sunday Century Spa – m4m – 41 (Century Spa)
We talked outside, both of us from the Echo Park area. Sorry not to have seen you after my body scrub. Would love to talk over wine.
Let me know…drop me a line. Cheers!

November 12, 2010
girl in rite-aid – m4w – 30
you blew me away. i couldn’t talk to you, i was so enamored. i think you drive a volvo. write me.

h/t Craigslist

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Tonight: Echo Curio exhibit and benefit

You may have heard already that pretty soon, the Echo Curio will be closing down for good. The owners posted the following on the Echo Curio blog just a couple of days ago:

Echo Curio has become my life for the past three years… and it has been the life of Justin, Tim and Heather for longer… I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect place to continue their eclectic egalitarian experiment and i couldn’t have imagined the response we got from you kind people.

It is with a heavy heart and a tired soul that I and Justin say good-bye to the long nights, endless emails, constant phone calls, neverending conversations and non-stop tap dancing around egos and feelings… We are now ready to have our days and nights back for awhile and to adjust our approach.

But don’t worry, tonight will be the free opening reception for a new exhibit called “Picture Con Secuencia: A Show of Exquisite Corpses.” The exhibit will go through November 29th.

The opening is free, tonight (Friday, November 12th) and starts at 8:00 pm.

DJ sets from KXLU DJ Molly

Featuring a (not so) silent auction to benefit Echo Curio

Missed Connections cassette presented by No Girls Allowed Records

Featuring music by the following artists (and members of): Moses Campbell, XBXRX, kit, No Babies. Charlyne Yi, Michael Nhat, Magick Orchids, Lola Loshkey, Big Whup, Pizza!, Heller Keller, Sugar Frosted Light Bulbs, Tusk, Peter Pants and more!

New video and animation collaborations from: walt!, Eri Hawkins, Sean Solomon, Chloe Mandel, Steven Sanchez, champoyhate, Sam Yurick, Joan Zamora, Andrew Lush, Dave Sirus, Jordan Santos, Joe Holliday, Michael Reyder, Julie Orlick, Rachel Cole, Craig Miller, Anthony Anzalone, Steven Andrew Garcia, Carla Orendorff, Vim Crony, Lillie West, Austin Wolf-Sothern

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Flashback Fridays: Once a Community Garden…

Lately I’ve been delving into the history of some of these Echo Park locations that have development “drama” revolving around them these days. Last week we wrote about the history of Barlow Hospital as it develops plans to upgrade hospital facilities by selling land for who-knows-what. This week we’ve got the Sunset Flats, planned for what was the former community garden, on our mind. So today we reflect on how that garden came to be, how the community came together to keep it thriving for years, and more importantly, what happened to it?

Date unknown - looks very 1990s. Flickr photo via Glen Dake

Flickr photo via Glen Dake

The garden was started in the late 199os as part of an effort to use land that wasn’t being used (deemed a “nuisance” property), but was privately owned, and really helped empower and improve the neighborhood. Located at 2223 Sunset Blvd, where now you’ll see a lot of overgrown weeds and possibly still some edible plants, they sold honey, grew and sold flowers, fruits and vegetables. It was literally the heart and sweat of many long-time Echo Park residents, including, we’ve heard, our friend Jesus Sanchez of The Eastsider LA.

The plight of the garden began around 2004, where our research begins to pick up the chatter that the land owner needed to sell the property. This is when things get a little complicated and messy, and is an issue that I am continuing to explore in interviews with residents and community leaders. Apparently the community got together and started raising money to purchase the land, and things were looking really promising in June of 2004 – the owner was willing to sell the land, and all they needed was a grant to finalize things. Sometime after that, things went south, and the manager of the garden had apparently been taking that money raised to purchase the land, stringing along the landowner and everyone else along. The Echo Park Community Garden had been bamboozled.

That’s the long story short. Without money to buy the property, the land was sold and there was little hope for the future of the garden. A 2004 issue of EPIAn Ways describes the frustration of being locked out of the garden for months:

The current landlord bought the land two years ago and has no idea the importance this community places on the garden. He seems to be unaware of what existed before the garden formed and therefore sees little value to keeping the garden as a tenant. The Echo Park Community Garden has been a collaborative effort between hundreds of families, individuals as well as social service agencies, neighborhood groups and government. It has also served as an environmental, educational and nutritional resource for the neighborhood families and schools.

Read more

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Eco Echo Park home tour this weekend!

After a two year haitus, the Historic Echo Park Home Tours returns this weekend!

In case you missed it, here’s a quick run-down from the Echo Park Historical Society:

This year’s Historic Echo Park Home Tour highlights 10 homes and gardens that feature the lifestyles of the ecologically minded. This includes properties utilizing gray water systems, solar power, natural light and circulation as ways to reduce dependency on public utilities as well gardens that include elements of urban farming, native plants, drought-tolerant landscaping and no dig gardening. And, yes, chicken coops.

The home tour has gotten some great coverage this year, including a segment on KTLA Morning News. The Los Angeles Times also published an excellent story highlighting the garden of Rhett Beavers, who discovered his 3,000 square foot garden behind his 1927 Echo Park home to be  the remnants of a communal orchard. That garden is one of several highlighted in this year’s Historical Society tour.

Tickets can be purchased on the day of the tour (Sunday, November 14) beginning at 11:00 am. The $20 general admission tickets will be sold at at Williams Hall, 2000 Stadium Way, or buy them online in advance and save $5. EPHS Members can buy tickets on the day of the event for $15.

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