A team of police and city workers showed up at Echo Park Lake this morning in the most recent effort to combat the Sunday swap meet in the northeast corner of the park. Residents reported that city workers cooking grills and merchandise * into dump trucks (pictured at right) waiting nearby. But, after the crews and police departed, the vendors regrouped and returned to display their wares, including racks of jeans and clothes pictured above. Many of the vendors set up near newly installed signs that read “No vending, sales or advertising on public property.”
Top photo by The Eastsider; bottom photo from Echo Park resident.
* Update: Some city workers and residents said that only items from unlicensed food vendors were thrown into the trash truck.
Echo Park resident Javier Hernandez spends at least one hour twice a month trimming, shaping and cleaning up after the trio of 10-year-old ficus trees in front of his Lemoyne Street home. The 59-year-old construction worker said he would save time using an electric trimmer but he prefers using shears and scissors to snip off each leaf that has yellowed or grown out of place on his green globes. “I like to garden … I like the exercise.”
Rain seems to be threatening several outdoor events Saturday, including a four-mile run in Debs Park and the Echo Park Block party. Still, there are plenty of indoor options, including Saturday night’s performance of the Occidental-Caltech Symphony (shown above in a 2008 the video) at Oxy. If techno-Mex music is your thing, then the Kinky concert at Cal State LA is the place to be. Also, there are musical fundraisers on Sunday for the Silver Lake Independent Jewish Community Center. More events and details in Save the Date.
“It was when I reached the front of the library when
I heard the first shot. I was startled because it was very loud. I then looked back in the direction of the auditorium and saw a chubby-looking guy in a grey sweater. He was holding a Jansport bag in his left hand, and a gun in his right. At first I thought it was just a water gun, but when I saw the sparks fly out of the gun I immediately knew it was real. The first shot was to the victim’s leg and I saw the blood spatter out. I was too focused on the gun to identify the shooter; I remember the gun was silver with black stripes. After he fired that first shot, he immediately ran, as did his friends who were there with him.”
The 17-year-old victim, who survived, turned out to be a fellow student. There have been no new developments in the case, a school official said earlier this week.
This year’s U.S. Census will be the first to count same-sex marriages. In the last nationwide count, if a gay couple indicated that they were married, the Bureau of the Census simply counted them as unmarried partners. That will now change as part of a new policy that will be the featured topic of the Latino LGBT Forum, which will be held Saturday in Highland Park. “We are working to assure the most accurate count possible by disseminating information about the new LGBT policy, how the Census form should be filled out to assure that LGBT couples are counted and encourage participation,” said Joseph Arroyo of Equality California, which is co-hosting the forum with other groups. Matt Weinstein with Census Bureau said his agency has launched an “unprecedented” outreach to the gay community as it prepares to count all married couples.
Weinstein, in an email, provided a bit more background about the previous and current policy on counting married couples:
“2010 is the first time the Census will count same-sex couples as being married, if they check the box for “husband or wife” on the Census form. We’ve been tracking same-sex couples since the 1990 Census, but only in the “unmarried partner” category, which is intended for boyfriends, girlfriends, and other kinds of partners. In 2000, if a same-sex couple indicated they were married, they would have been counted as unmarried partners. This year, we will be counting couples however they identify their relationship (either as married or unmarried partners), and we won’t be editing their responses as we have in the past. It’s important to note that, because of self-identification, we’re counting married same-sex couples in all 50 states, and not just the handful that recognize same-sex marriages.”
The forum, which is free, begins at 10 AM but the discussion on the Census starts at 1 PM.
Beer & fries flow at Eagle Rock Brewery opening; A boot camp for Kundalini yoga; avocado fries?
Can’t wait for Wednesdays: All menu items are $5 at the Allston Yacht Club. Echo Park
Eight beers on tap (and fries, too) at tonight’s grand opening of the Eagle Rock Brewery. Glassell Park
Battle of the Baristas: Fix Coffee of Echo Park and Silver Lake’s Intelligentsia compete in this weekend’s Western Regional Barista Competition.
Everything must go – men’s & women’s clothing and even the furniture – moving sale at Media Noche. Echo Park
Forget the vintage dresses. Where’s the Buttermilk Truck? This weekend’s Silver Lake Art, Craft & Vintage Market hosts the Food Truck Block Party. Silver Lake
One-of-a-kind textiles and other items featured at Miss Scarlet studio sale this weekend. Echo Park
Rain is in the forecast but snow – five tons of it – is expected Saturday (see date change below) in Elysian Heights. Parents and supporters of Elysian Heights Elementary School are holding a Snow Day fundraiser Saturday morning, complete with games, food and sled rides on a 50-foot long, snow-covered ramp. This snow does not fall from the sky, of course. It comes from Bellflower, where a company called Ice Man Inc. has manged to offset a seasonal decline for ice cubes by creating artificial winter wonderlands across Los Angeles. The snow is created on site where 300-pound slabs of ice trucked in from Bellflower are fed into a “tree chipper on steroids,” said Jeff Hendershot, president of the Ice Man. Ten seconds later, the giant ice cube has been transformed into “beautiful, flaky snow” that is sprayed out from the end of a hose.
Hendersot wouldn’t say what he charges over the phone but noted that the company has produced as much as 90 tons of snow for a single event (there is a 5 ton minimum). “Back East … everybody is paying to have snow removed,” said Hendershot, who has been in the snow making business for 15 years. “Here, in Southern California, [people] pay to have ice on their lawn.”
* Update: Snow Day has been rained out. The stormy forecast has prompted the Snow Day organizers to postpone the event until Saturday, March 6. Photo of a previous snow event from Ice Man, Inc
The idea of a group of young filmmakers – many of them kids – creating a musical about revered evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson might meet with some resistance among the faithful. But, in this case, officials at Angelus Temple, the church Sister Aimee founded across from Echo Park Lake, embraced the idea proposed by the nearby Echo Park Film Center. The fledgling filmmakers from the center were allowed to shoot scenes inside McPherson’s former home and parsonage across from Echo Park Lake. Some members of the crew even got to wear some of her flowing robes. The result is “Sister Aimee: The Musical,” a 37-minute-long program which will be screened today at 8 PM and available for sale at the film center.
“The folks at the temple were super helpful and supportive,” said film center executive director Paolo Davanzo in an email. “We had some kids come over from the Dream Center who worked and acted in the piece but besides that the involvement was mainly symbolic. It is a secular piece.”
Sister Aimee, who was known for theatrical sermons, was no stranger to the stage. In the video below she make an appearance on New York’s Broadway – the “mecca of sin” as Sister Aimee calls it.
The Eastsider is a bit late on this update. But the woman whose 1962 Volkswagen Beetle was stolen off a Highland Park street reports the vehicle – or what’s left of it – was found only a few blocks from where it was taken. The owner, a Texas woman named Rachel who had driven to [...]
Monday’s afternoon shooting in Silver Lake generated concerns about what many residents say has been an increase in neighborhood crime. In response to a request by The Eastsider, the LAPD is reviewing crime stats for Silver Lake south of the reservoir to see what’s going on. Still no hard numbers but these two maps show [...]
Echo Park’s late-night scene is dominated by night clubs and bars. But come this spring Echo Park night owls in need of soul searching and prayer will be able to drop in on the Mission Evangelical Palabra Ungida, a Spanish-language evangelical church that has purchased a former auto-repair shop on Alvarado Street south of Sunset [...]
A look back at the city’s plan to build to build a convention center in Elysian Park. BlogDowntown Elliot Smith slept here: a $1,200 a month Echo Park apartment. CraigsList City to test new recycling rewards program in Cypress Park & Lincoln Heights. Greenspace Equality California to hold Latino LGBT Community Forum in Highland Park. [...]
Heather Waters of Atwater Village has spent much of today watching crews cut down a giant tree that has loomed over Larga Street. It’s was not a pleasant sight. She’s documented the tree cutting on Facebook until the very end: “One truck has left, one remains, and the street is full of branches. And the [...]
Last week’s major crimes included a rape on the edge of Eagle Rock and string of violent robberies across Echo Park and Silver Lake. Boyle Heights saw far fewer robberies but still plenty of stolen cars and trucks to report. Click on the link below for a break down of some of the crimes committed [...]
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A team of police and city workers showed up at Echo Park Lake this morning in the most recent effort to combat the Sunday swap meet in the northeast corner of the park. Residents reported that city workers cooking grills and merchandise * into dump trucks (pictured at right) waiting nearby. But, after the crews and police departed, the vendors regrouped and returned to display their wares, including racks of jeans and clothes pictured above. Many of the vendors set up near newly installed signs that read “No vending, sales or advertising on public property.”
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The Eastsider publishes stories and news from the northeast corner of the City of Los Angeles and neighboring East Los Angeles. Who is the Eastsider? Where does the Eastsider roam? 