Click here to view a full-size timeline of some of the year’s most popular posts – and a few personal favorites – from The Eastsider.
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Film crew turns the clock back on Angeleno Heights store
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LAPD Northeast Division’s newest crime fighting tools are Facebook, Twitter & YouTube
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Silver Lake tree is long on lemons
December 2009
Silver Lake architect experiments with ideas and homes. KPCC (h/t Curbed LA)
Flippers ask $399,000 for a Glassell Park cottage that sold for $190,000 in June. Curbed LA
Lincoln High grad Joe Nevarez, one of the LA Times’ first Latino reporters, dies at age 98. LA
Eastside
Where’s the best house party? Head to Echo Park and Angeleno Heights. LA Weekly (bottom of story)
etc: Echo Park “art hop” planned for February …
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The Gold Line can’t keep up with a busy Rose Queen: Rose Queen Natalie Innocenzi and members of her Royal Court showed up at the new Gold Line station in Boyle Heights on Monday to encourage the public to ride the train to the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl. “Leave your car at home and use Metro to get an early place along the Parade route,” Innocenzi is quoted in an MTA press release. So, how did the Pasadena queen and her court arrive and depart from the media event at Mariachi Plaza to promote public transit? They were driven, said an MTA spokeswoman.
The Rose Queen and princesses – accompanied by councilman and MTA board member Jose Huizar - did ride the Gold Line from Boyle Heights to Union Station and back. But apparently the Gold Line did not prove convenient enough to transport the Tournament of Roses royalty to their next event.
While mass transit didn’t work out for the Royal Court, the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl fans will be able to take advantage of the newly expanded Gold Line through East Los Angeles on New Year’s Day. There will also be a free shuttle running to the Rose Bowl from a location near the Memorial Park station in Old Pasadena. Another shuttle will run from the Sierra Madre Villa station in East Pasadena to the Victory Park, where the Rose Parade floats will be on view.
Photo from Council District 14
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The Victorian-era residents who once inhabited the homes and buildings of the Heritage Square Museum probably would not have approved of underwear commercials or the sight of actress Reese Witherspoon in a skimpy bunny suit. But the shooting of modern-day TV commercials and feature films at the Montecito Heights compound has been welcomed by museum officials because it proved to be a stable and significant source of income – until this year. On-location shooting in Los Angeles has taken a beating* and Heritage Square has suffered as well. No commercials, TV shows or movies were shot this year at Heritage Square, which usually could count on location fees to generate about $35,000 or about 15% of its budget, said spokesman Brian Sheridan. Partly as a result of these and other financial pressures, Heritage Square is seeking to raise additional donations to fill the gap. If the museum fails to fill the financial hole, Sheridan said “we will have to make some pretty nasty cuts.”
Sheridan wants to make clear, however, that Heritage Square and its multicolored Victorians standing alongside the 110 Freeway is in no danger of closing. In fact, it has expanded its membership and plans to launch new programs on historic restoration next year. But the loss of the film locations fees – which last year topped $60,000 – has been felt, setting the stage for a more aggressive year-end appeal for donations. President Saline Davis issued a call for help on the museum’s blog:
“The decline of the filming industry’s location use in Los Angeles has meant that Heritage Square has lost a significant source of operating revenue to help keep the lights on, pay staff salaries and other essentials of running a non-profit organization. Today, we are asking those who have the same passion for what we do to help fill that gap and help us to unlock the key to the history of Southern California for thousands of others.”
If the fundraising falls short, employee hours may be cut, Sheridan said. “Since we are already stretched to the limit, the ensuing next step would be to cut some programming. You can sort of see the spiral from there.”
*Update: FilmLA reports that on-location shooting activity was down more than 21% during the first nine months of the year compared to same period in 2008. “Based on what we’ve observed these past three months, I predict that the 2009 year end results will be disappointing,” said FilmLA spokesman Philip Sokoloski in an email. “At this time, we predict the data will show annual losses in feature film, commercial and television production. We do see a ray of hope in how commercial production has fared of late … although the category will still finish the year in negative territory, there’s been a pickup in the last part of the year that is helping offset the losses we observed in October.
Photo by Floyd Bariscale/Flickr
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The end of the year finds some Echo Park property sellers inundated with offers while other homes just sit there even after a price cut or two. For example, a bank-owned duplex at the corner of Scott Avenue and Lakeshore Street that went on the market a few days before Christmas at $235,000 received 11 solid offers, said agent Steve Senigram. The bank is reviewing the offers, the lowest of which was $15,000 above the asking price, he said.
While the blue-and-white duplex is small – about 1,100-square-feet and “needs work,” the relatively low price proved irresistible to many buyers, mostly investors, Senigram said.
Meanwhile, some other Echo Park houses have had a harder time attracting interest. On Sunset Boulevard, condos remain available at the Sunset Five more than two months after the five units – priced from $495,000 to $645,000 – in the newly built loft-style complex went on the market. The Eastsider has contacted the owner for details.
Further north in the Elysian Heights section of Echo Park, the StepHouse, built on a stairway street, priced at $699,000 remains on the market after several offers fell apart, said agent Françoise Pichon. One prospective buyer dropped out after he lost his job. “Nothing has really materialized” but the owners have not cut their asking price, she said.
Even those lucky enough to receive multiple officers must settle for prices far below those seen during the boom. That same $235,000 Echo Park duplex at Scott and Lakeshore, for example, sold for $525,000 in 2005.
Top photo from theMls.com; middle from The Eastsider; bottom from EchoParkmodern.com
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The city’s Department of Transportation is looking into reducing Dash bus service in El Sereno, Highland Park and Eagle Rock as well as doubling the basic fare to 50 cents over two years for all riders. The agency, which outlined the proposed service cuts and changes on its website, is studying the cutbacks as it faces a $23 million budget gap in the next fiscal year.
No lines, at least in Eastside communities, would be eliminated. However, the El Sereno-City Terrace Dash would run only every 30 minutes after 8 PM and some stops on Colorado Boulevard and Yosemite Drive served by the Highland Park-Eagle Rock Dash would be dropped. Also, the Chinatown-Lincoln Heights Dash would be rerouted away from sections of Griffin Avenue and Main Streets.
The agency plans to hold public hearings on the proposed cuts early next year but the public can submit comments online – as well as by mail and phone – now.
Photo from LADOT website
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City to offer $50,000 reward for info on the killing of a Boyle Heights teenager. Daily News
Two stabbed in Cypress Park. ABC7
Fire hits Lincoln Heights apartment. LAFD
The pop star who lived off cheap Echo Park food & drinks. LA Times
Downtown News remains on the racks in Echo Park & Silver Lake. Downtown News
Car battery missing? You must live in Mount Washington. NELA List
Life still tough after Silver Lake foreclosure bloggers sold their house. Curbed LA
A ride and review of the Arroyo Seco Bike Trail. LA Creek Freak
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Outreach translates into award for Arroyo Seco neighborhood council: The Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council was commended for its outreach to non-English speaking residents and stakeholders, in part by using a Google translation tool at the top of its website.
The translation tool and a survey asking residents how to spend $25,000 in public funds were cited by the city’s Department of Neighborhood Empowerment as examples of “best practices” among the city’s 89 neighborhood councils, according to an announcement issued by the Arroyo Seco NC. The translation tool, located at the top of the neighborhood council’s main web pages, can translate the English-language site into more than 50 languages, including Persian, Chinese and Yiddish as viewed below.
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The large mural that suddenly appeared on the side of Little Joy - the Echo Park hipster dive bar – earlier this year just as quickly disappeared in recent days. Also, inside, the bar’s pink color scheme has also been painted over, according to a posting on Yelp.
“Why did you have to paint the walls? What possessed you to do
away with the Pepto-Bismol pink that I knew and loved? How could you erase the giant drawing of the naked man with a block for a head? I just don’t understand.”
away with the Pepto-Bismol pink that I knew and loved? How could you erase the giant drawing of the naked man with a block for a head? I just don’t understand.”
Is the bar’s new, muted color palate part of yet another change in atmosphere at Little Joy? The only thing that has remained the same is that shabby looking VistaMedia mini billboard.
* Update: The mural artist, who goes by the name Heng, said the owner removed the mural under orders from the city. “The owner said that they didn’t have permits for the wall and that the city had given them notice to buff it. I’m not sure how much of it is true … “
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