Northeast LA getting help on foreclosures

Echo Park is a great community, but we aren’t immune from real estate troubles – foreclosures happen all the time, affecting our neighbors and our neighborhood. The Eastsider LA breaks down the numbers for the area, Echo Park/Silver Lake, citing 120 foreclosed homes in August alone. Which is why the Montebello Housing Development Corporation and Assemblymember Gilbert Cedillo have coordinated to put on another foreclosure event, the Northeast LA Home Rescue Fair, to help educate those at risk of foreclosure.

The rescue fair takes place all day tomorrow (Saturday, September 17, 2011), and will help those at risk for foreclosure get FREE advice so that they can make an informed decision. In addition to bilingual services and informational workshops, the fair will offer one-on-one sessions with loan specialists, HUD-approved housing counselors, and attorneys. You MUST register for the event, so take advantage now by calling 323-722-3955.

Click here for the flyer to learn more about the fair, including a list of what documents you need to bring along with you for the best assistance (eg. loan information, tax returns, bank statements, etc.

Since the Echo Park Improvement Association is co-sponsoring the event, I’ll be volunteering my help throughout the afternoon. If you’re interested in helping out, let me know!

Northeast LA Home Rescue Fair
Saturday, September 17, 2011
10:00 am to 3:00 pm
Goodwill Industries, 342 N San Fernando Rd.

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Keep Echo Park clean: CA Coastal Cleanup Day tomorrow

Join thousands of volunteers at over 60 cleanup sites in Southern California beaches, rivers and parks for Heal the Bay’s 2011 Coastal Cleanup Day on Saturday (tomorrow!).

Trash weigh-in at Echo Park Lake, photo via Heal the Bay

In past years, Echo Park Lake has been a major concentration for these cleanups – in 2009, 120 volunteers cleaned up 1,000 pounds of trash and over 6,000 cigarette butts around Echo Park Lake alone. Keeping inland cities and neighborhoods clean are important for our beautiful coastline – a lot of our trash ends up in the ocean from inland creeks and waterbeds.

Echo Park Lake is currently gated up and being cleaned/rehabilitated under the Los Angeles clean water bond, Prop O. But that doesn’t mean Echo Park streets don’t need help, so there are actually two locations in the neighborhood for you to volunteer:

Location 1: Vista Hermosa Natural Park

100 N. Toluca Street

Location 2: GEPENC Office & Community Center

1572 West Sunset Boulevard

Like past years, the Greater Echo Park Elysian Neighborhood Council (GEPENC) is spearheading Saturday’s cleanup effort, along with help from Office of Senator Kevin De Leon, Assembly Member Gil Cedillo, First District Supervisor Gloria Molina, Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti, Council Member Ed Reyes and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

Lunch will be provided to participants courtesy of the neighborhood council. There will also be bulky item pickup in the area.

Signing up is easy! Just go to the Heal the Bay website. Click here to download the Echo Park cleanup PDF flyer to pass along to your neighbors and friends!

Echo Park CA Coastal Clean Up Day Event
Saturday, September 17th
9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Don’t live in Echo Park but want to participate? Inland neighborhoods like Silver Lake and Culver City, along with a slew of beaches will be cleanup site. Click here for the full list and map from Heal the Bay.
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A red carpet unveiling in Echo Park

Photo by Susan Borden

Yesterday was kind of an exciting day on Echo Park Avenue and Sunset Blvd. Informational tables were set up, the red carpet rolled out, and press people with their fancy cameras stood by. Eric Garcetti even stopped by to celebrate. But this was no Hollywood awards ceremony – this was a red carpet unveiling of the new solar-powered trash compactor, Big Belly.

It seems odd to have such hub-bub over a trash can, but this has been years of work for Echo Park resident and Trash Abatement Program (TAP) leader Ida Talalla, who as worked tirelessly on projects and community cleanups to keep Echo Park clean. This trash compactor, which was paid for by city grants, will help relieve the busy corner from the overflowing trash cans that plague our neighborhood – it can hold four times more trash than normal bins. Especially since down the road, Echo Park Lake is getting a multi-million dollar renovation, and the hope is that less trash will make its way into the lake waters.

Ida commented on The Eastsider LA article recently, saying:

Echo Park TAP feels that this project has been sufficiently tested elsewhere as well as received strong support from within and outside the community to be effective in the effort to stop trash from entering area storm drains….

Litter is not simply only a visual blight but a polluter with far reaching consequences, often not seen in the immediate vicinity. Inland trash ends up on beaches and the ocean. BigBelly Solar is here to assist us meet the challenges. Echo Park TAP will keep the community appraised of its efforts to reduce the impact of trash in the community and the newly replanted Lotus bed.

She also mentioned there would be a “Shelter Clean volunteer” for one year who will service the units, keeping the outside of it clean and the inside replaced with biodegradable bags.

Ida Talalla herself! Photo by Susan Borden

Kudos Ida, thank you for the hard work in keeping Echo Park clean!

 

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Chinatown celebrates harvest moon with a festival this weekend

Don’t let the morning marine layer keep you from thinking it’s still summer, but we’re gearing up to saying goodbye to 100 degree weather. Chinatown is celebrating the coming of Fall (which is September 23) and the Harvest Moon with its 73rd Annual Mid-Autumn Moon Festival on Saturday, September 17, 2011.

Apart from the art activities, food trucks, and a craft beer garden (yes!), the best part is the moon viewing via telescope provided by Griffith Observatory. Although the full moon was officially on Sunday, it will still be a nice night to check out the brilliant moon.

Full schedule after the jump:

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Hearing date set for Fix’s beer and wine application

Flickr photo via Stuart Fingerhut

Fix Coffee owner Marc Gallucci hopes to turn his thriving Echo Park coffee shop, Fix Coffee, into a place for a little nightlife as well – he applied this year for a Conditional Use Permit for the sale of beer and wine inside the cafe as well as outside on the 450 square foot patio. The application is up for review at City Hall early next month.

The notice provides the hours during which he will serve alcohol, which is limits sales from 4:00 pm to 10:00 pm weekdays, and 10:00 am – 10:00 pm on weekends. This might be helpful for direct neighbors, who have raised concerns that the quiet streets of that residential area will be interrupted with loud bar noises. Add additional stress on already limited parking, and the elementary school directly across the street, there are reasonable concerns. But not all residents are opposed, as we mentioned in a previous article about the issue on Echo Park Now. In a previous article publish by The Eastsider LA, resident Susan Borden is quoted as saying:

This is the first step in turning our neighborhood from a residential one into a commercial one.  When he moved in three years ago Marc Galucci (FIX owner) could see that this is a residential not a commercial neighborhood.  He wants to change it.  All along Echo Park Avenue businesses will try to get alcohol licenses and bring the club-goers up from Sunset.  Some people will enjoy that—they are [usually] the ones who are not adjacent to the businesses and don’t have to deal with the noise and trash. Most of us like the non-commercial nature of our canyon.

Like it or not, the hearing is set for Wednesday, October 5, 2011 at 10:30 am at City Hall. Click here for the public notice PDF. If you support or don’t support the application and would like your opinion on public record, contact Christine Saponara at Christine.Saponara@lAcity.org and reference case number ZA-2011-2029(CUB).

Additionally, the Greater Echo Park Elysian Neighborhood Council is also expected to take a vote on whether or not to support the application by Fix at tonight’s Planning, Public Works, Parks and Land Use Committee meeting. In addition to Fix, GEPENC is discussing and/or taking action on conditional use permit applications from other Echo Park restaurants, including Xoia, a proposed 7-11 store on Glendale Blvd, as well as the new Echo Park Blvd. restaurant Red Hill. Click here for the PDF agenda for tonight’s meeting.

If you’re intersted in attending the Neighborhood Council meeting tonight, it takes place at 6:30 pm at the St. Paul Cathedral Center, located at 840 N. Echo Park Avenue.

 

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Echo Park Lake Odor Monitoring Group meets for the first time

Volunteers of the Odor Monitoring Committee met with the Echo Park Lake Rehabilitation Team (CD13, Public Affairs Office, Department of Public Works, etc.) last Wednesday, September 7 to discuss the draining of the lake what to expect in the near future.

According to the meeting minutes, the rehab project is on schedule, with the lake draining to be complete in a couple of weeks. Here’s where we are at the project:

  • 89 Red Haired Slider turtles were removed and are on their way to the California Tortoise Club and their Tortoise and Turtle Adoption Program
  • 300 fish have been captured and relocated
  • Paving on the pathways have been removed
  • New storm pipes will be installed at the east side of the lake in a couple of weeks

The first Odor Monitoring Committee reported a slight smell of fish, but no dead fish were found so far and they will continue to monitor.

As mentioned in our last Echo Park Lake article, construction workers will be keeping track of what they find in Echo Park Lake as they drain it – from shopping carts to other treasures, we’re hoping there are some interesting items and not any dead bodies or anything in the muck.

If you catch unusual odors from the lake draining, please go to www.EchoParkLake.org/odorreportingprocedure.pdf, call (213) 978-0317, or email bpw.pao@lacity.

The next Odor Monitoring Committee meeting is scheduled for October.

Click here for the meeting minutes, which includes a question and answer section from the committee members.

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Assemblymember Gil Cedillo coming to Echo Park Tuesday

Assemblymember Gil Cedillo is coming to Echo Park for his 2011 End of Session Tour tomorrow – Tuesday, September 13, 2011 from 6:00-8:00 pm at El Centro del Pueblo (the first of many in the district he represents).

The community is invited to attend the session to hear from our representative about what’s been accomplished this year, and the goals for the upcoming legislative year. The 45th district he represents covers parts of Atwater Village, Hollywood, Echo Park, Silver Lake, Highland Park, Lincoln Heights, and El Sereno.

To RSVP, contact Fredy Ceja at (323)225-4545 or Fredy.Ceja@asm.ca.gov

El Centro del Pueblo is located at 1157 Lemoyne Street.

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Date a Dodgers fan: Singles night is back!

You’re single in Echo Park and a Dodgers fan – god forbid you end up dating a Giants fan!

As part of the Stadium’s “Group Theme Nights,” Singles Night takes place on Friday, September 16. Pittsburgh is in town, and it’s actually the last Friday Night Fireworks of the season.

The pre-game party (with music from a KLOS 95.5FM DJ) goes on from 5:15 pm – 7:10 pm in Lot B. The $25 ticket gets you a Infield Reserve seat, Dodgers cap and one drink, courtesy of Anheuser Busch.

Click here to buy tickets, and make sure to use the promo code SINGLES.

Call Dodgers Representative Charlie Brooks at 323-224-2630 email charlesb@ladodgers.com for more information.

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Today: Free Dodger Takeover Party at The Echo

Today’s free event at The Echo is inspired by frustrations with Frank McCourt’s handling of the Dodgers – so Origami Vinyl is organizing an “investor group to buy the Dodgers,” and is having a party to celebrate.

Today, at The Echo, enjoy a BBQ with free Dodger Dogs, veggie dogs, peanuts, and Cracker Jacks. They’ve also invented a drink called “The Vin Scully” for $5, Heinekens for $6.

Origami’s Dodger Takeover Party Presented By Pony Attack
Saturday, September 10th from 3:30 pm – 8 pm
The Echo, 1822 W. Sunset Blvd.

Set rimes:
4pm – The Black Apples
5pm – Summer Darling
6pm – Gestapo Khazi
7pm – Future Ghost

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My love letter to Echo Park

Flickr photo via Orrin

Inspired by a recent LAist post and the Foodlatio post, “One Man’s Love Letter to L.A.: If You Don’t Like It Here, ‘Get The Fuck Out'” I think we need to write a love letter to Echo Park to remind everyone (especially with the Echo Park Lake rehab project) why we love this ‘hood. We’ve had a couple of friends and roommates ditch out on LA after only a couple of months in Echo Park, and we think they missed out on a great thing. Here is our love letter, and feel free to share yours in the comments below.

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The newly revived Los Globos takes on a different crowd

Chromatics performs in the revived Los Globos. Photo by Taylor Kephart

Last Friday night, we made our way a little it outside of Echo Park to the soft opening of the revived Los Globos to see our friends Chromatics and Glass Candy take the stage, becoming quite possibly the first Indie group to perform at the traditionally Latino venue (just read the Yelp reviews, you’ll know what I’m talking about).

The booking by Echo Park Records and a fresh coat of paint on the outside indicated to us all that Los Globos had changed hands – in fact, the owners of El Cid just down the road purchased it just a couple of months ago (not Echo Park entrepreneur Mitchell Frank as we had thought).

But good news for fans of the venue before these changes: the ground floor remains the same, and will continue to host the Salsa and merengue nights Los Globos has traditionally had. But the ground floor was pretty empty (and smoke-filled), bringing up the question asked by LAist: Can hipsters and merengue fans co-exist?

Echo Park Records will continue to book bands as well as manage the venue. Be prepared with some cash at the cash-only bar (there’s an ATM if you forget), and $6 Coronas, $5 valet parking (don’t bother looking for street parking). They’ll continue to make changes to the building, and hopefully install a Las Vegas-sized air conditioner (man it was HOT in there). The grand opening is bound to be grand!

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A dilapidated Glendale Boulevard in Echo Park needs some TLC

Photo by Josh Post

The recent issue of EPIAn Ways (for which, for full disclosure, I am the editor) highlights a problem we’ve always noticed but didn’t think we could do anything about: The dilapidated state of a stretch of Glendale Boulevard in Echo Park.

Glendale Boulevard is a far cry from what it started out as – it was the site of our first film studio, where Red Cars once ran, and the main thoroughfare into Echo Park from neighborhoods and cities north of the ‘hood. Now it’s a freeway for commuters, peeling paint on buildings, chain-link fences, empty lots and “for rent” signs. Most probably don’t even notice great businesses on that part of Glendale Boulevard, such as the music space Bedrock Studios, and the soon-to-be home of Echo Country Outpost, let alone what Echo Park is like beyond the main street.

Thankfully, Echo Park resident Josh Post has not only taken notice, he’s doing something about it. In the EPIAn Ways article, he calls the area between Berkeley and Duane Street a “dead zone,” where “trash clutters sidewalks, graffiti adorns dilapidated/empty warehouses, overgrown empty lots sit litter-filled behind chain-linked fencing, and not one tree is planted along this four-block stretch. The area has become the antithesis of ‘urban renewal.'”

He started by getting together with the Echo Park Improvement Association about cleaning up Glendale Boulevard – the short term goal to clean up trash, remove graffiti, and improve sidewalks. The long term goal to get businesses along Glendale Boulevard to actively participate in keeping it clean, to plant trees and other decorative elements to revitalize the area. He even proposed having a silent movie theater to “pay homage to the corridor’s history” (we LOVE that idea!).

So what drove Josh to take action? “Echo Park is my home,” he said in an email. “I want the most visible part of this community to be more representative of the true beauty and character of the neighborhood. I quickly realized on my daily jogs down Glendale Boulevard that nothing is going to get done to improve this area unless we, as community members, take action.”

Bravo!

If you agree, spend some time with myself, the Echo Park Improvement Association, and other neighbors and activists in a truly grassroots effort to clean up Glendale Boulevard:

Echo Park Community Cleanup: Glendale Boulevard
Saturday, November 5, 2011
9:00 am – noon
Meet at 9:00 am at the Jack in the Box

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What will they find in Echo Park Lake?

Ever since we learned of the Echo Park Lake rehab project, we’ve been thinking: What in the heck are they going to find in the bottom of the lake?

The contractors will be keeping track of everything found in the lake, and hopefully at the next Odor Monitoring Group meeting we’ll learn what’s been found so far. And we’re optimistic they won’t find any (ahem) bodies… but certainly some illegal items made their way into the murky depths.

So now we are taking bets: How many shopping carts? Knives? Jewelry? Sunken boats? Tell us what you think!

In the meantime, here’s the latest from the EchoParkLake.org website:

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The changing landscape of Echo Park Lake

Click here for the full map (PDF)

In case you’ve missed it, there are not only covered fences up around Echo Park Lake, but it’s also looking a bit… lower now. That’s because the rehabilitation project has finally (and sadly) begun – phase one of the draining having started at the end of August, pumping about eight feet of water out of the lake and into the storm drains.

The temporary pools have been installed, and with all the muck in the lake water already it seems the wildlife is taking advantage. The fish and other water wildlife (turtles, etc.) will be relocated once the lake has been drained a few feet (supervised by a wildlife biologist), after which the lake will be completely drained and the Odor Monitoring Group will be called upon to monitor.

After a July 20, 2011 Echo Park Lake Rehab public meeting, a couple of improvements were made after residents spoke up:

  1. A portion of the sidewalk on the west side of the lake along Glendale Boulevard will be closed after residents complained the sidewalk was too narrow, and thus dangerous, for pedestrian use. They will install alternate route signs.
  2. Parking restrictions along Echo Park Avenue have been slightly relieved – instead of No Parking between 6:00 am to 6:00 pm, it’s 7:00 am to 5:00 pm. Residents more recently pointed out that the parking isn’t even being used by construction workers. According to one resident, who contacted the project managers, the parking will be used by construction workers since the Lady of the Lake statue was removed (apparently she was in the way of construction access).

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Echo Country Outpost taking up new diggs

Echo Country Outpost has been host to many types of events – ho-downs, BBQs, and musical acts reminiscent of the ol’ Echo Curio days (don’t tell the city of LA). Opened in November 2009 by Erica Forneret, Chris Hajek, and Brendan Missett, the small space on Echo Park Avenue has been a great neighborhood and family-friendly establishment for music and shopping (they carry the kinds of antiques and hand made items that make the store feel like home).

But now it seems that they may have outgrown the store, which occupied the same building as the former Echo Park Cycles (now frame store Hotel de Ville) – “for rent” signs decorate the commercial space hoping for new occupants. The Echo Country Outpost website says only: “The Outpost is real busy traveling the country and cooking up big plans for the future of Outposts in Los Angeles and around the world.”

Call it perfect timing, but production company 2HeadedHorse recently vacated their production space at 1770 Glendale Boulevard, just south of the 2 Freeway entrance, and it seems our friends at the Outpost have settled on some new diggs. Posting a sketch on their Facebook page, the Outpost looks to be expanding beyond what we thought the Glendale Boulevard storefront even had – there’s an inner court/patio, an atrium and gift shop, studios, lofts, a kitchen, even a bar!

We’ve reached out to the guys and gals at Echo Country Outpost for further details, but expect a lot of great Echo Parkian thinks to do up on the Glendale corridor.

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