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In case you missed it

We took a much needed break from work and writing to travel and spend time with the family this holiday season, so you may have noticed things have been a little quiet here on Echo Park Now (make sure you follow us on Twitter for the more timely news). Here’s what you may have missed while sipping egg nog over the holiday:

Echo Park students in downtown “flash mob”

Gabriella Charter School (located near Sunset and Logan) dance students participated in a flash mob at downtown’s LA Live on Monday, December 20. The rain didn’t stop these kids from a good time!

ABC7 thinks our potholes are big

Today’s coverage of the post-rain apocalypse brought ABC7 to the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Alvarado, one of the most congested intersection in Los Angeles. The gaping holes in shown in the video have been there for as long as I can remember…

Christmas Day shootings

And of course, I would be surprised if you didn’t hear about the Christmas Day shooting in Echo Park that left one dead and three people wounded. And this event was followed by the LAPD announcement that the number of homicides in LA for 2010 are the fewest in over 40 years.

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Echo Park Now’s most popular articles of 2010

Now that we’re officially 1.5 years old, we’ve written over 1,000 articles (yay!) and have collected quite a bit of info about what you’re reading. Since we’re closing out on 2010, we thought we’d do a little review of sorts. So in case you missed it, our most popular posts of 2010 are:

Fallen Fruit Map
Actually one of our first published posts in 2009, it remains the top visited article yet.

A Saturday tour of Echo Park stairways with Charles Fleming
A personal favorite of mine, this article published in November 2010. It was a wonderful experience and I will continue to be climbing Echo Park stairs with Fleming’s book in hand!

Lotus Festival 2010
Everyone was interested to know about what to expect at the last Lotus Festival before the Lake restoration. It wasn’t quite the same as in previous years – no lotus flowers, no fireworks, fewer booths and activities.

Long-awaited Cookbook grocery opens in Echo Park
In July this year, the new greengrocer took over the space on Echo Park Avenue formerly occupied by jeweler Han Cholo. The store opened up its doors on October 31, changing up the way Echo Parkians shop for their groceries.

Flashback Fridays – The Fate of Echo Park
From our popular Echo Park history series, this one is interesting because it talks about Echo Park’s stratification (blight versus a viable oasis) as described by the LA Times in 1971.

and lastly:

Owner of new Echo Park restaurant speaks up
Last August, we got a chance to talk to restaurateur Tony Yanow about his new restaurant being installed in the old Ramona Theater in Echo Park (now called Mohawk Bend). The 96-year-old theater had been empty since the mid-1990s, so we’re not surprised with Echo Park’s interest in the project.

We are looking forward to another great year in 2011! Happy New Year!

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Echo Park’s Missed Connections

Flickr photo via write-pudding

November 15, 2010
At the echoplex last night for Margot! – m4w – 27
I blocked you in at the merch table!

I know this is a long shot but I really wish I had talked to you more.

You are a beautiful blonde with long hair and about 5’5″ and were with your blonde girl friend with very short hair. I was standing behind you for most of the show. I’m tall, brown hair and was wearing a black t-shirt and jeans.

I ran into you at the merch table after the show and made a terrible joke about not letting you through on purpose after me and a few other people blocked you in.

I would love to talk to you more. Maybe we can go for a drink and/or another show sometime.

November 18, 2010
Sunset & Rosemont – w4m – 26
Last night (Wednesday) around 11pm I was waiting for a bus & you rode by on your bicycle. Our eyes met & we simultaneously smiled. You’re handsome.

shortstop awesometown bla bla – m4w – 23
you are an indian girl whose name starts with a p. i’m a drunk white guy. you had a friend. you were both adorable. why did i walk away!? anguish, gnashing of teeth etc. anyways, there’s 0% chance you’ll ever read this, but if you, and you for some reason wanna say hi, holler w/your name and i’ll buy you a drink sometime. hooray!

December 2, 2010
Echo Park Library, cute latin girl – m4w – 26
Hey, if the cute latin girl that sat across from me today at the echo p library happens to read this. The girl with the hello kitty phone, i would love to hear from you, if you are interested shoot me an email!

December 3, 2010
We sometimes catch the same bus – m4w – 33
The 200 from Sunset/Alvarado to USC and back. You’re tall, you have longish, dark hair, and you’re really pretty. I sat across from you the other day; I walk on the grass when we get off the bus.

h/t Craigslist

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Not your typical gingerbread house

Photo via Curbed LA

We first read about this unique gingerbread accomplishment on Curbed LA the other day, and it’s been circulating around the web.

Bottom of the Fourth blogger joined forces with his or her roommates for an annual tradition of building an important event in Jewish history out of gingerbread and candy. This year they broke tradition a little bit, and instead of choosing a biblical event they instead commemorated Sandy Koufax’s perfect game with a 1965 replica of Dodger Stadium. Those stadium fans look pretty delicious!

To see the whole process from sketch to the finger-licking finale, click here.

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Your holiday parking tips for Los Angeles

Parking regulations are a little different this week due to the holiday, so make sure you avoid getting a ticket from evil Santa. Street cleaning restrictions and other regulations on Christmas Eve (Friday) will remain as posted, but Saturday will get a little more relaxed as the city takes off Christmas Day.

Here’s the low-down from the LA City Department of Transportation, click the image below for the full PDF:

Bottom line: Park longer than that 1-2 hour time limit and don’t feed the meter (at most meters – look out for the “holidays excluded” signage).

Happy holidays!

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Curbed Cup 2010: Will Echo Park make LA’s best neighborhood?

Graphic from Curbed LA

Popular website Curbed LA took on renaming the “not Eastside,” that is everything east of Western and west of the Los Angeles River including Echo Park, earlier this year by putting it to a vote (they now call it North Central). Now they are working on the annual “Curbed Cup,” where eight neighborhoods compete for LA’s best neighborhood by popular vote. Echo Park is not only one of those neighborhoods, it made it to round two – beating South Park in round one (no competition there).

The question is, will Echo Park defeat Old Bank in round two, which opens up for voting tomorrow?

Curbed LA has a colorful description of Old Bank for your voting education:

Even though the Old Bank District/Historic Core is a previous winner, so the neighborhood returns again to the competition. The area saw plans submitted for the Spring Street pocket park, while up the street, a new park unrolled at the site of the LAPD headquarters. Developments like the El Dorado and the Medallion opened, while Barry Shy’s animal kingdom painting distracted everyone from the large holes he blew in his building. With The Last Bookstore drawing patrons, and the new restaurants drawing diners, the Old Bank District still remains a popular contender. Bonus points for its always-lively street scene–good place to people watch.

As for Echo Park, well I can’t say this exactly describes why I personally live here, but just for the sake of sharing this is how Curbed LA describes our neighborhood:

Echo Park, the neighborhood the Los Angeles Times just discovered, was quite a hub of action this year. Panic! At the Disco Rocker bought in the hood, the and the area beat back a controversial townhome project (and continued its love of Tiki shacks). Numerous new restaurants and shops arrived–notably, a yuppie deli named Cookbook opened, while a micro-brewery (gentrification alert!) will open soon on Sunset Boulevard. And did we mention this region tried on a new name this year? North Central is still being tested out, but Echo Park, you’re officially so hip, the hipsters are already packing and moving to Highland Park. *Trader Joes’s expansion was in Silver Lake, not EP.

Even if Echo Park wins the fake trophy for LA’s best neighborhood, do we really want to draw more attention to us after the recent LA Times hipster article?

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Even Maria the Goose takes interest in Lake Rehab

A lot of us were at the Echo Park Community Parade on Saturday, but there was also another Echo Park Lake Rehabilitation Tour around the lake. This time, Maria the Goose joined in on the talk, raising the question: Where will the infamous goose go once the project starts?

Photo via LA Stormwater Facebook gallery.

Related Articles:

  • “Echo Park Lake Rehab EIR to go before City tomorrow.” Echo Park Now, November 22, 2010
  • “Echo Park Lake Restoration tour.” Echo Park Now, October 14, 2010
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The faces of the Echo Park Film Center audience

The Echo Park Film Center has posted a series of photos on its blog of the many audiences of the center’s film screenings going back almost a year and a half. Audiences range from just a couple of people to a packed room, some cradling a glass of what appears to be wine (err I mean, grape juice), others making some funny faces and poses. More photos after the jump at at the Echo Park Film Center Blog.

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Photos from the 2010 Echo Park Community Parade

The parade was nice this year – I’ve never actually been to one of these before so I don’t have much to compare it to, but there were definitely quite a few typical “LA” moments… Enjoy!

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

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Elysian Park Workshop: Make your own solar oven

Flicker photo via dvautier

You can actually cook your food with the power of the sun, but who needs an expensive and fancy solar panel when you can make your own out of recycled materials? Join the Elysian Park Museum of Art (EPMoA) for a Solar Oven Workshop taught by Alyse Emdur and Michael Parker on Sunday, December 12 from 11:00 am – 2:00 pm.

Learn how to build your own solar oven, the simple science behind solar cooking, and learn practical recipes.

The workshop takes place at the Elysian Fields in Elysian Park, directions are:

Follow signs to grace e simons lodge. from stadium way, take right (directly across from grace e simons entrance) onto street with “northeast little league” sign. follow winding road up and past angel’s point, make right into elysian fields. take first right at fork in the parking lot road. pass picnic tables on left. park in front of the playground at the turnaround. walk through pirate ship playground and picnic tables to the edge of the lookout point. we will meet at the point overlooking los angeles and chavez ravine.

Bring:

  • A cardboard box with a minimum dimension of 13″ x 13″ x 13″ (ideally between 16″ x 16″ x 16″ and 20″ x 20″ x 20″)
  • Heavy duty tin foil
  • Glue (nontoxic, water based)
  • X-acto knife / box cutter / razor
  • Large ruler or straight edge
  • 2″ paint brush
  • Pencil / pen / marker
  • 2 mason jars

You can learn more about solar cooking at The Solar Cooking Archives website. And yes, it is really that simple!

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Even mangled cars get tickets

Can’t move your car because there’s a giant gaping hole in the hood? Unfortunately the city will ticket you anyways, like it did for this vehicle parked on Logan Street next to Gabriella Charter School. Both air bags were deployed inside the car, so we are hoping everyone is uninjured.

A little tip: If you can’t move your car on street sweeping days (or possibly even next to an expired meter) because it’s broken down or busted, call 311 and ask them to give you a get out of jail free card so you won’t get ticketed. We think you get about three per year, so use them wisely!

Photo courtesy of Sarah McClure

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What’s a holiday without a cheesy portrait session?

Miss out on the Echo Park Animal Alliance pet photos with Santa? Or maybe that’s just not quite your thing and you need something more… sarcastic to send family members for the holidays? Well, Echo Park residents Gino Espinosa and Alfie Numeric might just have the opportunity for you: Cheesy Christmas Portrait Sessions!

And yes, you are required (not by law or anything) to wear an “ugly ass” Christmas sweater for the portrait, so get shopping! They provide Santa hats for the pets if you haven’t already dressed your… turtle already.

The $25 package includes one 8×10, two 5×7, and three postcards plus a digital file of the image. Pictures require one week to produce, and a 50% deposit is required at the shoot.

Portrait sessions will be on a 30 minute appointment basis, so book your spot ASAP and be punctual. Check out the Facebook page for more info, or send an email to gknow.fotos@gmail.com.

Appointments are scheduled for Saturday, December 12 from 10:00 am – 10:00 pm in Echo Park.

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Holiday lights in Echo Park

Echo Park decorations. Flickr photo via Alex de Cordoba

At the Atwater Village Tree Lighting ceremony last week, I got to thinking, why doesn’t Echo Park have one? While we do have a wonderful holiday parade (coming up this weekend!), I think we can certainly add a little more… extreme flashing colored lights to the mix.

Echo Park residents: send us a photo of your house decorations, your neighbor’s decorations, or your favorite one you’ve seen so far. Since Echo Park does such a great job with these holiday decorations, we want to highlight these efforts that make it feel so much more like the holidays (because 72 degree weather isn’t exactly Christmas-like).

Send your photos to:

info@echoparknow.com

In JPG format (up to 3MB in size)

Tell me your name and the address or street the photo is from (the address will not be published, we just want to make sure it’s in Echo Park)

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Video: “I think my neighborhood is gentrified”

We received a great email from a fellow Echo Parkian and songwriter who put together a reaction (in her words, “hastily”) to an LA Times “hipster” article, which we also wrote about yesterday and about the gentrification of Echo Park in general. We were absolutely tickled by her song and thought we’d share the fun with you all:

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La Espiga Bakery tagged… again

We noticed a worker painting over the remnants of overnight tagging on the front and sides of the La Espiga Bakery, located on the corner of Glendale Boulevard and Scott Avenue. We’ve seen it get tagged up before, but they really did a number on the bakery this time around.

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