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Historic Echo Park Home Tours Returns

Flickr Photo by LA Addict (2006 Home Tour)

The Echo Park Historical Society will be reviving its Historic Echo Park Home Tours in November with “Eco Echo Park: Urban Sustainable Living.” The tour will feature properties that utilize “gray water systems, solar power, natural light and circulation as ways to reduce dependency on public utilities.” They will also be showcasing properties that use native and drought-tolerant plants, no-dig gardens and urban farmers that raise livestock and/or crops for personal consumption.

Holly Hampton, the Home Tour Chairperson, is currently looking for people to volunteer their time as project coordinators and researchers. They are still in the process of selecting homes and gardens for the tour, so they need some help scheduling site visits. They are also looking for individuals to do some research on the properties and take notes from the City Records. If you are interested in lending Holly a helping hand, you can email her at hhampton@mac.com.

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Photos: July 4th at the Lake

Cleanup at the Lake underway this morning
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Holiday Parking in Los Angeles

This gem of information popped up on LAist today about how the holiday parking enforcement is a little relaxed on holidays like Independence Day (today is an observed holiday).

Here are the details from the Department of Transportation:

Other holidays include New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King’s Birthday, President’s Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Click on the screen capture above for the full PDF; call 311 if you have any questions.

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Tonight: Dodger Stadium Fireworks

The Dodgers were away last night at Arizona (we won 3-1) for 4th of July, but tonight the Stadium is putting on an Independence Day fireworks show when the team comes back to play the Florida Marlins. Here’s the low-down from Noel Pallias, Dodgers Neighborhood Relations Manager, from an email last week:

Please note that prior to the start of this upcoming Monday evening’s game against the Florida Marlins – which is scheduled for 6:10PM, there will be a flyover at approximately 6:00PM and a 15-20 minute fireworks show after the conclusion of the game. As always, the safety of those attending the event, our neighbors, the surrounding community and the firefighters themselves is of paramount concern to us. Therefore, as is our policy, should the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) request that we cancel the fireworks due to weather concerns, or any other concern for that matter, we will comply. Decisions on this will be made right up until the time of the show. Finally, LAFD personnel (including a water truck as is required by the fire safety code) and, as an added precaution, we will wet down the hillside closest to the demonstration area. Finally, Stadium management will be on site to manage the event.

…

Should you have any concerns relative to these events, please call our Neighborhood Focus Line at (323) 224-2636.

The Stadium did have tickets available for Echo/Elysian Park and Solano Canyon residents for the game, but all available tickets were claimed within an hour of the announcement.

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Independence Day in Echo Park

There are a couple of things going on in Echo Park for Independence Day tomorrow. Keep checking back, I’ll be updating events if we find more!

Echo Country Outpost
2:00 – 7:00 pm
Cost: $5 Door, $5 Cups, $1 Dogs, $2 Burgers

Lineup:
2:30 – Amy Blaschke, Jihan Lee and Spencer Lee (website)
3:45 – Fort King
5:00 – Eagle Winged Palace
6:15 – Verb the Adjective Noun

Now Showing new/old drawings by the Outpost”s own Brendan J. Missett. Also showing new photos by C. Hajek and E. Forneret.

Feeding Birds

30% off sale items. Click here for more info.

Closed

Masa, Allston Yacht Club and The Park restaurants are all closed on July 4th (AYC will be back on the 6th, Masa and The Park will reopen after July 6).

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Emergency Services in the Echo Park area

I’m not going to name any names, let’s just call her my friend. Well, during the U.S. vs. Ghana match, my friend may have gotten a bit too much into the spirit of things and may have imbibed a few too many alcoholic beverages. Then, once the game had ended and the barbecue begun, she promptly fell into a five-foot-deep ditch behind my house.

She was okay, but we still wanted to get her to an emergency room and get her looked at. That’s when I realized that, although I knew of several hospitals of various sorts in our area, I wasn’t sure where the closest emergency room was. A couple of places that I called requested that I hang up and call 911, but it wasn’t that sort of emergency requiring an ambulance.

I found some hospitals with walk-in emergency rooms, and I thought I’d share them with everyone:

Good Samaritan Hospital
1225 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 977-2121
www.goodsam.org

White Memorial Medical Center
1720 East Cesar E. Chavez Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90033
(323) 268-5000
whitememorial.com

USC University Hospital
1500 San Pablo St.
Los Angeles, CA 90033
(888) 700-5700
www.uscuniversityhospital.org

Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center
1526 N. Edgemont St.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 783-4079
www.kaiserpermanente.org

We have also posted this information in the Health Resources section of our Community Resources page.

Let us know in the comments section below if you have other suggestions or what your experience was like at any of the hospitals or emergency rooms (while no ER visit is a good one, some experiences might be different than others).

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A happy ending for one lost pet

Not the dog mentioned below, but gotta love that face! Flickr photo via rachel carr

Now this is a story I can get used to! A resident posted a nice story today on the Echo Elysian Neighborhood Council Forum about a “Jindo” mix that she found late last month. Here’s her story:

I found a Jindo mix on the 19th and took her to Lacy Street [North Central Shelter]. The dog was scanned and no chip was found. I monitored the dog on line, but no one was coming to claim her. It didn’t add up to me, since the dog had an expensive collar, was in good shape, had been spayed, no fleas. I didn’t really want to foster Jindo mix.

I called after her available date to check her status and found out that her owner had come to pull her out, (let’s call the owner Laura), but they couldn’t release to Laura because when they took her in the back to microchip her, a chip was actually found with a completely different persons information on it. Apparently Laura had found the dog a month ago, but did not take her to the pound. The info on the chip was outdated, a letter was sent to the person on the microchip, they did not come for the dog, so now this girl has been pulled and is happily home with Laura.

Yea!!!! A happy outcome! The microchip is now updated and this girl is back with the person who really loves her. And I’m writing all this just to say that sometimes taking a dog to the pound does have a happy ending.

Of course, the question of why the chip wasn’t found on the first scan is concerning.

Thank you for your story! It’s also a reminder that it’s really important if you do have to take an animal to the shelter, you take time out of your busy schedule to make sure it gets to a home as we certainly don’t want any pets euthanized unnecessarily. A little personal time and effort goes a long way! But always remember – if you can hold on to the pet and find its owner, that’s always a safer bet.

I had an experience recently taking a dog I found wandering the Echo Park streets late at night to the same North Central Shelter, and things turned out great for him too. You can read about that experience here.

And, as always, support your four-legged friends in Echo Park by adopting through, donating to, fostering for, or volunteering at the Echo Park Animal Alliance!

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Echo Park Film Center closed in July

We just got our (at the least) weekly email from the Echo Park Film Center. The Center will be closed for the month of July so that they can “tour, make films, and plot and plan for the coming season.” It seems that a couple of them are even taking the Trans-Siberian Railway through China, Mongolia and Russia. Jealous!

They will return sometime in August, but you still have one more chance to get your summer film fix this Friday, July 2 when the Filmmobile screens “The Savage Eye.” This “dramatized documentary” from 1959 follows the newly-divorced Judith on a journey through Los Angeles where she encounters all sorts of unsavory characters. The film “provides a peephole into the seedier side of a long gone Los Angeles.”

The screening is FREE and open to anyone, and starts at 8:00 pm. The location is somewhere along the 7000 block of Hollywood Blvd. between Sycamore and Orange. Keep an eye out on the Filmmobile Twitter page for more detailed info.

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And… we’re back!

Thank you for your patience. Our second year online started off with a bang! And then the site went down.

You/we/everyone are no longer at risk for viruses, but as always feel free to let us know if you run into any technical issues with the site.

Thanks again!

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Found a lost pet? Here’s what to do

 

A friend's dog, Murray, is missing right now in Echo Park

A recent personal experience has prompted me to share with everyone some basic information about what to do when you find a lost cat or dog wandering the streets of Echo Park. Here are some steps and suggestions for what to do:

  1. Of course, always approach with caution. The little dog I recently found running around was super friendly, so we didn’t have a hard time getting to know him.
  2. No collar or tag? You can try and hang on to the animal and hang up posters around the neighborhood or post a notification on the Echo Elysian Neighborhood Council forum or the Echo Park Animal Alliance forum. However, if you’re like me and have other animals in the house or just no room for another, you might want to go to the next step.
  3. Go to the nearest animal shelter, which is, for the 90026 area code, the North Central Shelter located at 3201 Lacy Street, Los Angeles, CA 90031. There they can find out of the animal is chipped, which is your best bet to find the owner (assuming the animal is correctly registered).
  4. If there’s no chip, get the impound number so you can track the animal and make sure it gets adopted. They have a first rights program, which allows the “finder” first dibs on the animal if unclaimed. After five days of impound, you can adopt/rescue the animal. You can keep track of the animal through the LA Animal Services website by clicking here. If the tracking number doesn’t come up, it means the animal has been picked up by its owner or adopted.

I got a lot of help from someone at the Echo Park Animal Alliance, a great resource for residents. They “feed, foster and re-home stray dogs dumped in Elysian Park, raise funds for local animals’ medical expenses, offer free pet food and shelter to the neediest members of our community.” There are some really cute dogs and cats up for adoption through the EPAA, you an take a look at those animals through its website by clicking here.

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Week in Music

For the week of Monday, June 28 through Sunday, July 4.

Monday
Rainbow^Arabia, Gary Wilson & The Blind Dates, Tame Impala, Weave! @ The Echo (FREE!)
Cold Mold, Vulture, Fuckass, Treasure Mammal, Jamuel Saxton @ Pehrspace
New Music Monday feat. Buzz or Howl, Daryl Shaun + guests @ Echo Curio
Stone Axe @ Origami Vinyl

Tuesday
Johnny O’Donnell’s Pratfall Effect, Mack Winston and the Reflections, Dante VS Zombie @ The Echo

Wednesday
Hot Hot Heat, Voxhaul Broadcast, 1, 2, 3 @ Bootleg Theater
KSCR presents Asura + Shlohmo @ Origami Vinyl

Thursday
Dum Dum Girls, Crocodiles, Dunes, Soft Healer @ The Echo
Batwings Catwings, I.E., Luna Is Honey, Michael Nhat, Kid Infinity @ Echo Curio
These Are Photos: A Collection By Danny Krug music by My Pet Saddle @ Origami Vinyl

Friday
Mates of State, Free Energy, Nick Thune @ The Echo
The Foreign Resort @ Origami Vinyl

Saturday
Mates of State, Free Energy, Nick Thune @ The Echo
Moses Campbell’s summer tour fundraiser feat. Moses Campbell, Pizza!, Rare Grooves, Voice on Tape, Ostrich Eyes, Heller Keller, PROTECTME, Nouns, Sober Two Year Olds, Forts, Moriel Berger @ Pehrspace
Closing party with Mammoth Life, Cave Country + Special Guests @ Echo Curio

Sunday
Part Time Punks feat. Magic Bullets’ record release, The Tartans @ The Echo

Shout-out to LAist

Club nights generally not included. For more information on weekly musical events see our community resource pages.Visit the venue website for more information on the cost and times of shows. Venue information can be found in our community resource pages.

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.

Monday

Concrete Blonde, Flametal, Shok @ Henry Fonda Music Box Theater
One Eskimo @ Largo at the Coronet
Anjulie @ Bardot (RSVP Only)
We Barbarians, Rumspringa, Kissing Cousins, Stone Darling @ Spaceland (FREE!)
Rainbow^Arabia, Gary Wilson & The Blind Dates, Tame Impala, Weave! @ The Echo (FREE!)
Line and Circle, The Minor Canon, HT Heartache, Wet & Reckless @ Silver Lake Lounge (FREE!)
First Ever Hotel Comedy Night feat. Neal Brennan, Ian Bagg, Brent Weinbach, Josh Haness, Steven Benaquist, Amy Dresner + more; Music by Nikki Lynn Katt & Zachariah & The Lobos Riders @ The Hotel Café
Cold Mold, Vulture, Fuckass, Treasure Mammal, Jamuel Saxton @ Pehrspace
New Music Monday feat. Buzz or Howl, Daryl Shaun + guests @ Echo Curio

Tuesday

Taking Back Sunday, Rufio @ The Wiltern
Blitzen Trapper, The Moondoggies @ El Rey Theatre
The Parson Red Heads, Wheelhouse, Ghost Kings, Goldenboy @ Spaceland
Tame Impala, White Arrows, Bowery Beasts @ Silver Lake Lounge
Nicole Simone’s record release, Sam Bradley, Grouplove, Tim Williams @ The Hotel Café
Johnny O’Donnell’s Pratfall Effect, Mack Winston and the Reflections, Dante VS Zombie @ The Echo
The Gracious Few, Royal Bliss @ Troubadour
Saint Vitus, Stone Axe @ The Viper Room
The Submarines @ Detroit Bar

Wednesday

Hot Hot Heat, Voxhaul Broadcast, 1, 2, 3 @ Bootleg Theater
Sally Seltmann, Jasmine Ash (Canceled!)
Damien Jurado, Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground, Hi Ho Silver Oh, Tenlons Fort @ Spaceland
Oona, Bullet and Snowfox, Big Moves @ Silver Lake Lounge
Golden State, The Break and Repair Method, John Lefler, The Wandering Bears, The Western Front @ The Hotel Café
60 Watt Kid, White Arrows, DJ Dirty Diaz, Death At Space Camp @ The Viper Room

Thursday

Gulf Coast Benefit feat. Kaki King, Ben Lee, Carina Round, Rachael Cantu, The Silver Lake Chorus @ The Mint
Dum Dum Girls, Crocodiles, Dunes, Soft Healer @ The Echo
Also I Like To Rock feat. Saint Motel, Kitten @ Hammer Museum
Year Long Disaster, Waxy, Open Hand, Solare @ Spaceland
The Foreign Resort, Tigers Can Bite You, Dreamtiger, Space Waves @ Silver Lake Lounge
Batwings Catwings, I.E., Luna Is Honey, Michael Nhat, Kid Infinity @ Echo Curio
Tiny Little, Ostrich Eyes, Disciple of Saturn, Plasma Center @ The Smell
B-Kids, The Legion of Dumb, Anesthetic Frank, Cosmonots @ Mr. T’s Bowl
Gary Jules, Garrison Starr, Congos, Scott Mellis @ The Hotel Café
See Spot, The Bohunks, The Debonaires @ Troubadour
Sloan @ House of Blues Sunset Strip
Pinback presents The Rob and Zach Show @ Detroit Bar

Friday

CocoRosie, Cibelle, Busdriver @ The Orpheum Theatre
Dam-Funk, Master Blazter, Peanut Butter Wolf @ Troubadour
Mates of State, Free Energy, Nick Thune @ The Echo
Fishtank Ensemble @ Levitt Pavillion (FREE! 85 E. Holly Street, Pasadena)
The Entrance Band, The Growlers, VOICEsVOICEs @ The Smell
Rademacher @ Casey’s Irish Bar & Grill
Wallpaper, Rob Roy, White Apple Tree @ Spaceland
Black Light Revelation, Wulfbane, Die Fast, The Beatmeters, El Death @ Mr. T’s Bowl
Zac Poor, Jennifer Quiroz, Army of Me, Tiff Randol, Sonnett, Marcus Very Ordinary @ The Hotel Café
Nobody @ Amoeba Music (FREE!)

Saturday

Hootenanny 2010 feat. Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Old 97’s, Shooter Jennings, Nick 13 (of Tiger Army) and more @ Oak Canyon Ranch (5305 Santiago Canyon Rd. Irvine)
Mates of State, Free Energy, Nick Thune @ The Echo
Steel Train, Shadow Shadow Shade, Matt Embree, Young The Giant @ El Rey Theatre
Los Pinguos @ Levitt Pavillion (FREE! 85 E. Holly Street, Pasadena)
Baths, Daedelus, El Ten Eleven, Matthewdavid @ Troubadour
Moses Campbell’s summer tour fundraiser feat. Moses Campbell, Pizza!, Rare Grooves, Voice on Tape, Ostrich Eyes, Heller Keller, PROTECTME, Nouns, Sober Two Year Olds, Forts, Moriel Berger @ Pehrspace
Stevenson Ranch Davidians @ Casey’s Irish Bar & Grill
Closing party with Mammoth Life, Cave Country + Special Guests @ Echo Curio
blectum from blechdom, Captain Ahab, Foot Village, E&E @ The Smell
Love Revisited, Hot As Balls, Quincy Blaque Trio @ Spaceland
The Janks, John Torres, White Lights, Katelyn Benton, Kristin Diable @ The Hotel Café
Death at Space Camp, Blond Summer, Black Angel, Dark Underground, Inside the Black @ Mr. T’s Bowl
Miss Kittin, Paolo Mojo @ Avalon
Carte Blanche, Destructo @ Key Club

Sunday

Part Time Punks feat. Magic Bullets’ record release, The Tartans @ The Echo
Las Sangronas Y El Cabrón, Stella Pace, Sin Remedio, Desmadre En Krisis, Social Concern, Angustia @ The Smell

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Happy Anniversary, from Echo Park Now!

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of Echo Park Now! We have also surpassed 600 posts since that first one on June 27, 2009.

Thank you to our readers!

We’d like to give a hearty thanks to everyone out there who read and respond to our posts.Your comments are very important to us and are a very integral part of our dialog regarding all the activities in the neighborhood. We couldn’t do that without your comments, tips, and questions.

We do the best we can to provide you with as much accurate information as possible, but sometimes we may forget or overlook some things (we are a small group of volunteers living in Echo Park, so we don’t get paid or sponsored). We encourage you, our wonderful readers, to comment on our articles, and share information about what’s going on in Echo Park! We would also love for you to participate in other ways – if you are interested in being a guest blogger, please email us.

The past year we have really worked hard to develop Echo Park Now as a source for residents to know what’s going on from a youthful and multifaceted perspective – we’ve written about Echo Park history and community activism, as well as information about music, events, businesses, non-profits, traffic, and even the occasional rumor.

We decided to call the website Echo Park Now – the word “Now” being not just about expediency, but also about engaging residents in all things Echo Park, and getting us all involved in the many unique facets of this community. That’s why, in addition to the website, we have personally taken time to volunteer and be a part of the community in many other way. We encourage you to as well – our Community Resources section contains information about volunteer opportunities, and ways to get involved in local government and community activism.

And as always, we are on Twitter constantly sharing small-item news and comments (our Twitter feed is always displayed on the right of the articles pages).

We’d also like to give a special shout-out to everyone else working hard to keep you updated about what’s going on in Echo Park:

(You can also see all related sites here)

Thank you again, everyone, and we look forward to another wonderful year!

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Family Campfire Days at Vista Hermosa Park

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the Mountains Recreation & Conservation Authority are teaming up for free family campfires each week throughout the summer.

Along with the campfire, naturalist staff will be in attendance to help demonstrate how to perfect the roasted marshmallow! From the email invitation: “This summer, pack up the family, a picnic dinner, a blanket and head to any one of our four weekly campfire programs…. Programs are complete with an interpretive nature program, campfire songs, and activities.”

Closest to Echo Park is the Vista Hermosa Park campfire evening, which takes place every Wednesday at 7:00 pm starting July 7.

Vista Hermosa Park is located at 100 N. Toluca Street (near Glendale and Beverly Blvd.)

Click here for more info about the other Los Angeles campfire locations.

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Soul Cups Tasting at Say Cheese Cafe

When Echo Park resident Celeste Alleyne isn’t working full-time at Microsoft as the Director of Community Affairs and Corporate Citizenship, she is baking up some delicious cupcakes through Soul Cups, her very own Los Angeles-based catering company.

We caught wind of Celeste and Soul Cups with the announcement of a tasting event of Soul Cups at Say Cheese Cafe, happening this weekend in Silver Lake!

“Say Cheese is an amazing establishment with the type of design esthetic and food insight I adore-Glenn Harrell is my mentor who has graciously asked me to showcase my cupcakes for every holiday in his cafe,” she says.

Make sure to stop by Say Cheese Cafe, located at 2800 Hyperion Ave in Silver Lake (right by the Trader Joe’s). The tasting event goes on Saturday, June 26 from 11:00 am – 2:00 pm. We definitely plan on stopping by to support our fellow Echo Park resident, especially since they are showcasing flavors like Strawberry Twist, Lemon Drop and Muddy Water Chocolate cupcakes. You’ll be able to taste, as a sample, Blueberry, Strawberry Twist and Apple Pie cupcakes (the samples are like mini cupcakes, which she calls “baby dots”). Yum!

Read more

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Fix Coffee’s Local Artisans Bazaar Sunday

Fix Coffee is holding a free Local Artisans Bazaar the last Sunday of every month, starting this Sunday (June 27)!

Local artisans will be selling their wares, sidewalk chalk artists will be coloring up the area, and band African Cowboy will be playing starting at 4:00 pm. Bring your families, friends, and even doggies are welcome. They will provide chalk for the kids to join in.

The Bazaar goes from 2:00 – 7:00 pm.

If you are interested in playing or vending at the venue, please email Veronica Hunt at screamingchica@mac.com

Fix Coffee is located at 2100 Echo Park Ave (at Baxter)

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