Here’s a short student documentary about the gentrification of Echo Park, “with a focus on local businesses, real estate, racial tension, and class struggle.” They interview Echo Park residents, including Rickey Kim of Evil Monito in Echo Park.
Though I’m not sure when this video was made exactly (it was uploaded to YouTube recently), it does mention the Echo Park swap meet (at around 8:26), saying: “Every Sunday, Latino families and vendors from other parts of Los Angeles come to the park to sell used clothing, appliances, and other items as part of the Sunday Swap Meet… Due to residents’ complaints, strict ordinances have been placed on the vendors regarding what can be sold. Vendor numbers have diminished while tension persists.”
Just to clear things up, at this time there are currently no ordinances in place for the Sunday swap meets at the lake (let alone restrictions on what items can be sold), and the numbers have actually increased in the past year.
The above video is written and directed by Sinziana Velicescu with the help of Marvin Arias and Chelsea Zeffiro.