Echo Park house | Photo by Gelatobaby/Flickr
- Learning the wonder of weeds with the head of the Eagle Rock School of Self Reliance. L.A. Times
- Retail and reading in Echo Park. Jacket Copy
- Gay Atwater man loses his partner and his partner’s Social Security benefits. LAist
- What will happen to the Boyle Heights Cake Museum now that Frances Kuyper is gone. L.A. Times
- Sign up now for Coastal Clean Up Day in Echo Park. Coastal Clean Up
- Eagle Rock merchants bracing for months of water main construction. ASNC Alert
- New Echo Park neighborhood council website gets a mixed review. Echo Park Now
- Travel guides misguided about the Eastside. L.A. Eastside
- The once attractive corner of Avenue 50 & Monte Vista. 90042
- Happening Today: Library book sales in Echo Park & Silver Lake; Roots Roadhouse in Echo Park. Calendar Listings
Kathleen from Providence, RI needs help finding a place in Eagle Rock:
Hi, my family and I may be relocating from Providence, RI in the very near future. Based on the commute (to Sylmar) and schools and neighborhood, we’ve decided that we like the Eagle Rock area very much. However, most of the methods we’ve used before in locating rentals (apartments or houses) are not working very well. Craigslist has a *very* small handful, and other internet searching we’ve done has turned up next to nothing. How do people find rental housing in the area? Do you use real estate agents? Are there signs on lawns/in windows? Thanks for any advice!
News & items from other parts of the blog and beyond.
- How do you find rentals in Eagle Rock? Eastsider Forums
- LAPD targets Echo Park property crime; Dogtown gang members arrested in Highland Park. Eastside 911
A cluster of burglaries, car break-ins and other property crime near Sunset and Glendale Boulevard in Echo Park has caught the attention of the LAPD. Northeast Division Capt. Bill Murphy, in his most recent Northeast Newsletter, said a special team of officers has been deployed across Echo Park – as well as Silver Lake and Los Feliz – to work on the problem:
“We have a cluster of property crimes this week in the area of Sunset Boulevard and Glendale Boulevard. We requested support from Operations-Central Bureau two weeks ago and they deployed their Special Problems Unit (SPU) into Northeast Area to work property crimes in Echo Park, Silver Lake and Los Feliz. They have teamed up with our SPU and have been running multiple tactical operations in these neighborhoods (i.e., sting/bait-car operations). They have made many arrests for BTFV and burglary in these areas.”
Meanwhile, the LAPD arrested some Dog Town gang member suspected of recent street robberies across Highland Park:
“This week we arrested a couple of Dogtown gang members for committing street robberies (pocket rolls) in Highland Park. This has been a consistent problem in the area and these arrests should help reduce this type of criminal activity.”
So far this year, the Northeast Division, which stretches from Los Feliz to Eagle Rock, has reported an approximately 20% drop in violent crime and a sharp drop in homicides. Burglaries, however, are up more than 30% and rapes have increased to 19 this year from 13 during the same period in 2009.
Click on the link below to read the contents of Murphy’s most recent newsletter.
[Read More…]
Photo by h-bomb/Flickr
Got an overactive zucchini or tomato plant that won’t stop giving? Then it might be worth stopping by the Garden Swap on Saturday at the Milagro Allegro Garden in Highland Park, where the green-thumb set will be able to swap everything from surplus lemons to compost and equipment. Lovers of books and bargains should check out the book sales at the Echo Park and Silver Lake libraries. Echo Park will be the place to be this weekend for folk and roots music fans, with the Fretted Frog, the new acoustic guitar shop, hosting its first in-store concert tonight and the all-day Roots Roadhouse filling three stages at the Echo and Echoplex on Saturday. Cool off on Sunday (if the weather ever heats up) at the Eagle Rock Valley Historical Society’s Ice Cream Social. More details in the Calendar Listings.
Many artists resent being priced out of warehouses and industrial buildings to make way for pricey “loft-style” condos and apartments. Well, in Echo Park, artists have taken advantage of a retrenching real estate market that’s undermined demand for pricey loft-style living. LA Fonderie, a fine arts foundry, and a group called Keystone Art Studio have filled a cluster of warehouses and storage buildings on Glendale Boulevard near Aaron Street. Only a few years ago, a developer planned to transform these buildings into 28 condos and garden space (pictured at right) designed by Lorcan O’Herlihy. But Artisan House Lofts was never built and the buildings sat vacant.
Earlier this year, however, LA Fonderie began seeking artists to rent out working studios featuring 12-foot high ceilings. Tall trees and bushes that obscured the complex, located between an animal hospital and an automotive repair shop, were recently cut away and the facade repainted muted shades of gray. Murals cover portions of the back of the building (pictured above). On Saturday night, the complex will host an Open Studio Party.
Graphic artist and teacher Lauren Mackler arrived in Los Angeles only in January, taking up residence at the back of an Avenue 50 storefront in Highland Park. In the front of the brick building, Mackler is opening what she calls Public Fiction – The Avenue 50 Museum at the corner of Avenue 50 and Aldama Street. The plan is to hold group exhibits, music performances and other events. The first exhibit won’t open until the end of September but the public will get a chance to peek into the space tonight during a zine making workshop followed by a musical performance on Monday night.
“I moved to LA with the aim to start this small museum,” said the 28-year-old Mackler. “I’m calling it a museum because I see it as service – not a commercial endeavor. The art shows will be group shows on a theme – up for 3 months and not for sale. Within the installed work I’ll be holding events, talks, screenings, dinner parties and music shows.”
And, like many museums, Public Fiction will eventually include a cafe and bookstore in the corner storefront. Click on the link below to read more about upcoming shows.
[Read More…]
Lisa Baca Sigala wants a new set of wheels. But she’s not interested in a big SUV or energy sipping hybrid. Instead, Baca, an Echo Park Library volunteer, has her eyes set on a sky-blue, all-steel Buffalo Booktruck. It does not go very fast but it can carry up to 400 pounds of books, which would make life much easier for volunteers during book sales and other events held by the Echo Park Library Community Group. But the Buffalo Booktruck costs about $400, and it’s one of the many items and services that the library group wants to purchase to support the branch. So, on Saturday, the Echo Park Library Community Group will be holding a Summer Book Sale to raise the enough money to form a nonprofit – or 501C3 – corporation. Operating as a nonprofit, said Baca, would allow the group to apply for bigger grants to pay for a fleet of Buffalo Booktruck as well as to fund arts and music programs, support the library’s computer lab and knitting club and start a gardening club.
“We need to become our own long-term, sustainable, stand-on-our-own-two-feet nonprofit force dedicated to championing the needs of the Echo Park Library,” said Sigala by email. “When the Echo Park Library Community Group gets their 501 c 3 nonprofit status, we can raise funds in larger grant amounts than $10 – $50 memberships or 25 cents” book sales.
The Summer Book Sale begins at noon.
Construction of the Silver Lake Meadow - six acres of parkland on the east side of the Silver Lake reservoirs – was supposed to have been completed two years ago. The city delayed the project - which was opposed by many Silver Lake residents who feared it would attract too much traffic, trash and outsiders – after state funds needed to design and construction the meadow were frozen. But those issues were resolved and construction is scheduled to get underway by next month and the work completed early next year, said Yusef Robb, a spokesman for Councilman Eric Garcetti.
Work will include grading, the installation of benches, pathways, irrigation systems and a four-foot high fence separating the park from the walking path that loops around the reservoirs, Yusef said via email. The park, which will be landscaped with native plants, is scheduled to be open from sunrise to sunset.
Chicken Walk | El Sereno | Photo by Anika Malone/Flickr
- Former Lincoln Heights church born again as a city youth center. EGP News
- Losing sleep over early morning Echo Park trash pick up. Echo Elysian Forum
- Echo Park National Night out looking for help. Echo Elysian Forum
- New Congresswoman Judy Chu makes Washington D.C. Most Beautiful List. Wave Newspapers
- New East L.A. high school is up for grabs. EGP News
- Southbound 110 Arroyo Parkway closed from Glenarm to York this weekend. ASNC Alert
- How many days until Christmas? Echo Park Community Parade ready to roll on Dec. 11. EP Community Parade
- Happening Today: Zine workshop in Highland Park, Echo Park folk-roots concert. Calendar Listings
- Notes: Cultural Heritage Commission approved expansion of Highland Park-Garvanza historic district.
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