Echo Park resident Andy Sternberg posted this photo this morning, “Rockslide onto Avon st near Baxter…” .
Join Warwick and others for Echo Park’s monthly Hospitality Night, tonight starting at 9:00 pm.
The event begins west of Alvarado, and continues east towards Dodgers stadium. Finish up the crawl at our good friend’s vintage shop, Warwick, for some good merchandise and good company.
Click here for a list of participating businesses.
We arrived at Delilah’s Bakery SUPER early to nab our own citrus tree at the EPIA Fruit/Citrus tree giveaway. Thank you EPIA for our very own Margarita tree…err Lime tree!
There will be another give-away so make sure to reserve your tree and arrive early.
And don’t forget the next EPIA Neighborhood Issues Committee meeting is Wednesday, January 20 from 7-9:00 pm at Williams Hall, Barlow Hospital.
At around 3:00 this afternoon, I was heading north(ish) on Douglas getting ready to turn left onto Echo Park when I look up to see a bus (heading East on Sunset) slam into another vehicle. It appears the other driver may have been heading West on Sunset and was turning left onto Douglas, but I am not entirely certain.
Thankfully, it doesn’t appear that there are any serious injuries, and emergency vehicles were on the scene immediately. Sunset is a little jammed right now due to the incident, so try to avoid the area or wait a little longer.
And, as always, drive safe!!
~Kelly
Little cars are no match for these busses
Machine Project in Echo Park is hosting FungiFest 2010 from January 16-23.
“Everyone is strongly encouraged to bring mushroom specimens to the events, whether you find them growing in your yard, behind your toilet or in the woods. Our resident mushroom and mold expert, Bob Cummings of Santa Barbara City College, will be on hand to drop knowledge and guide us in identification. We also plan to create a book, cataloguing the various mushrooms that are found throughout the week.”
Events are as follows:
Saturday January 16th, 8pm – At Machine Project
Mushroom collecting tutorial, screening of mushroom-themed short films, mushroom flavored gelato from Scoops, chanterelle schnapps, slime mold racing and more!
Monday January 18th, 7:30pm – At the Museum of Natural History
Meeting of the Los Angeles Mycological Society, all are welcome.
http://www.lamushrooms.org/
Thursday January 21st, 6-9pm At the Hammer Museum
Ask a mycologist, mushroom dancing, special mystery guest, mushroom-themed short films and more!
Saturday January 23rd, 8pm (mushroom walk in the morning) – At Machine Project
Guided mushroom walk (time and place to be announced), mushroom ID session, special mystery guest, harvesting and cooking of oyster mushrooms, mushroom music.
For more information, check out the Machine Project website.
Sunday, January 17 at 1717 Glendale Boulevard from 1-7:00 pm
The Echo Park Improvement Association (EPIA) will be distributing free fruit and citrus trees at Delilah’s Bakery in Echo Park on Saturday, January 16 from 2-5:00 pm.
Trees can be reserved in advance, and need to be picked up by 4:30 p.m. Unreserved trees will be distributed on a first come, first served basis. The trees will be for Echo Park residents only.
You can reserve a tree by emailing EPIAmail@yahoo.com or by calling the EPIA hotline at (323) 882-4835. Please include your name, phone number and type of tree you would like.
Jenny Burman from Chicken Corner stopped by TiGeorge’s Haitian restaurant today to check out all the commotion – a couple of camera crews out front. Owner George Laguerre is from Por-de-Paix, and has been in touch with friends and relatives in Haiti following the devastating earthquake.
Click here to ready Jenny’s account on Chicken Corner.
Tomorrow night (Thursday, January 14th), TiGeorge’s Chicken will be hosting a benefit on behalf of victims. Proceeds from food sales will go to relief efforts.
The event starts at 5 p.m. at TiGeorge’s on 309 Glendale Blvd. in Echo Park.
The old theater on Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park has been collecting dust for 20 years, and according to The Eastsider LA may have a future as a new restaurant.
According to the article, form CEO of music.com Tony Yanow is interested in turning the theater into a”150 seat restaurant called El Camino, featuring craft beers, regionally grown food and two stages for dinner theater.”
Click here to read the full article from The Eastsider LA.
Stop by the Echo Country Outpost for a fun night of shopping (and drinking) tonight at 9:00 pm. Golden Birthday from Chicago will be playing, and donations are welcome at the door for entry and for booze.
Echo Country Outpost is located at 1930 Echo Park Avenue.
On Saturday, January 16 at 12:00 noon, the Echo Park location of 826LA will be holding a New Volunteer Orientation for those who are interested in volunteering at 826LA. The Orientation is the first step for anyone interested in becoming a volunteer, and lasts between 30 minutes and an hour.
Here are also some upcoming Orientations:
Saturday, 1/16, 12pm, 826LA East
Thursday, 1/21, 6pm, 826LA West
Friday, 1/22, 3pm, 826LA East
Friday, 1/29, 6pm, 826LA West
Tuesday, 2/2, 6pm, 826LA West
Monday, 2/8, 1pm, 826LA East & West
Tuesday, 2/16, 11am, 826LA East
You can also view more upcoming dates by clicking here: 826la.org/calendar
Please email iwanttohelp@826la.org to RSVP, and bring a photo ID and your friends!
The commotion and sirens a few people heard last night were in response to a truck/bus accident on Glendale Boulevard near the 2 Freeway. Here are the details according to a CBS2 online news report:
5 Hurt When Truck, Bus Collide In Silver Lake
LOS ANGELES (CBS) – Authorities said five people were hurt Monday night when a truck crashed into a Metro bus in the Silver Lake area. The crash, which was reported at 9:05 p.m. Monday, occurred in the 1800 block of North Glendale Boulevard, according to Erik Scott of the Los Angeles Fire Department. The driver of the truck hit a guardrail, went through a red light and slammed into the bus, Sgt. Gregory Hoyte of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Central Traffic Division said. The driver of the truck remained hospitalized early Tuesday, Hoyte said. No arrests have been made. Four people from the bus and one from the truck were transported to local hospitals with non-life threatening injuries, Scott said.
Be careful out there everyone!
On Saturday, January 16th starting at noon, the Glassell Park Improvement Association together with TreePeople are holding their annual fruit tree giveaway.
The distribution will take place at the Glassell Park Recreation Center parking lot. A variety of fruit trees (as well as citrus) will be handed out on a first come, first served basis.
The Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation will provide mulch, so bring bag or a bucket to take some with you. Citizen Foresters will be available and community supporter Tony Macias will provide information on how to plant, prune and care for the trees. Volunteers are also welcome.
If you may have any questions please contact Alonso Calderon from GPIA me at acalceves@yahoo.com or GPIA president Jim Kiehl at jekiehl@earthlink.net.
Here’s some excerpts from the Northeast Community Police Station newsletter from Captain Bill Murphy
Hello everyone. This newsletter will focus on giving all of you an overview of last year’s crime. We had a really good year – we reduced crime for the eight straight year. But our mission to continue this trend is going to be extremely challenging. I do not have to tell you how bad the economy is today – with an unemployment rate of almost 13% in the City (higher if you consider those who have stopped looking for work). But the most troubling issue we may face this year is the potential release of approximately 30,000 prisoners from our correctional system. It is estimated (no one knows the true numbers right now) the County of Los Angeles would possibly get half of these with the City of Los Angeles getting the lion’s share of this number. The release of the prisoners is due to two factors: a federal judicial mandate to reduce overcrowding in the correctional system; and a bleak state government budget that may require dramatic cuts in the correctional budget – hence pris oner releases.
As of right now, we are being told that the prisoners (if released) will be non-violent offenders. This means that they probably went to jail for property-related offenses such as GTA, BTFV, 459, or narcotics charges. Unfortunately, property crime happens to be NOE Area’s biggest crime problem – auto-related crime alone accounted for 52% of our crime – and we may very well get dozens or even hundreds of these types of prisoners released onto our streets. Know that we are already planning for this and will use every prevention, intervention, suppression, and re-entry strategy available to keep you safe and your quality of life high. With that let’s talk about last year’s crime.
Crime Terminology
187: Homicide
211: Robbery
BTFV: Car break-in
GTA: Car theft
AGG: Shooting, stabbing, or assault not resulting in death
459: Burglary of a residence or business
261: Sexual Assault (rape)
NOE Year End Crime Statistics
Homicide: Down 42.3% (15 vs. 26)
Rape: Down 47.4%
Robbery: Down 1.5%
AGG: Down 11.1%
Shots Fired: Down 18.9%
Shooting Victims: Down 30.3%
Total Violent Crime: Down 11.1%
Burglary: Down 20.1%
GTA: Down 15.0%
BTFV: Down 7.5%
Larceny: Down 14.0%
Total Property Crime: Down 12.8%
Part I (Total Crime): Down 12.5%
* Ended year with EVERY category of crime down – very hard to do this
* We had 836 less serious Part I crimes than the year before
* NOE Area ranked THIRD in crime reduction Citywide (out of 21 police stations). We held first place for almost nine months. Missed second place by one tenth of one percent
(probably 6-10 crimes out of over 5800 reported)
And for Echo Park, the Neighborhood Crime Update is:
We had a serial BTFV suspect hitting multiple vehicles all across NOE. An observant resident of Echo Park called in a suspicious person and a patrol unit responded immediately. They detained the suspect who was wearing a black hoodie (sweatshirt with hood) and gloves on his hands as he approached his vehicle. The officers conducted an outstanding investigation. The suspect’s vehicle was literally filled with stolen property from 16 different BTFVs he committed that day! Our Auto detectives came in on their day off to debrief the suspect. He copt-out to committing dozens of car break-ins throughout NOE. Auto detectives were able to get the judge on the case to increase the bail to 50 thousand dollars (high for a property crime).
Unfortunately, the suspect’s mother bailed him out immediately and we are monitoring his activities. This arrest led to a dramatic decrease in BTFV’s. We do have a strong case and will press for a fast prosecution. Our undercover officers actually arrested him hours after he was released with property from additional victims. He was brought back before the judge who imposed a $400,000 bail. Mommy could not bail him out of this amount!
Good News: Part I crime Down 12.4%, Homicides Down 66%, (3 vs. 1), AGG Down 34.8%, 459 Down 32.7%, GTA Down 29.4%, and BTFV Down 3.8%.
Needs Improvement: Robbery Up 13.% (4 crimes), and Larceny Up 10.9% (7 crimes).
Celebrate the Dragstrip 66 Grand Finale on Saturday, January 9 at the Echoplex. After 17 years, the popular drag dance party is shutting its doors for good.
“Frankly, our daytime careers have made it harder to give Dragstrip the time and attention we did in the past,” co-founder Mr. Dan Der Kacz told the L.A. Times.
For more information, check out the Dragstip 66 website.