Photo by Leticia Delasota
Not just one cheesecake. 80 cheesecakes. That’s how many cakes Highland Park residents Benji and Katrina made today in time for their annual New Year’s party on Saturday. The 10-inch wide cakes are made from scratch based on a recipe from Benji’s mother. Come Saturday night, party guests (including The Eastsider) will depart the couple’s Highland Park home with the gift of cheesecake. Katrina explains how this sweet tradition got started:
“We don’t buy gifts for our friends. We bake cheesecakes! Just finished #80 and we’re done for the day! Benj has been doing this since his 20s when he started the tradition of baking cheesecakes for friends because he was broke and really wanted to give his friends a gift but had very little money. Over the years it has expanded and now includes my friends. It takes an entire day of baking and we love it!”
What goes into 80, 10-inch wide cheesecakes? Here’s the list of ingredients:
50 packages of graham crackers
12.5 pounds of butter
25 pounds of cream cheese
8.3 dozen eggs
45 pounds of sour cream
4 bottles of lemon juice
10 pounds sugar
Friday, December 31, 2010
There was no shortage of news, big and small, in 2010. Here’s a review of the scenes, sightings and stories The Eastsider came across this year. Looking forward to 2011.
Friday, December 31, 2010
The Eastsider would like to introduce certified hypnotherapist Thea Pueschel as an advertising sponsor. Here is more about Pueschel:
Certified hypnotherapist Thea Pueschel has over the years lived in Silver Lake, Echo Park and Los Feliz. She produced two no-budget indy features filmed in Silver Lake and Echo Park and has volunteered for various Eastside non-profits. When Thea decided to open her private hypnotherapy practice, she wanted to serve the Eastside community, opening Hypnotiq Solutions in Atwater Village in April 2010. The goal of Hypnotiq Solutions is to help you achieve yours, whether you want to perfect your golf swing, take a test without sweating bullets or quit smoking. Through hypnosis and guided imagery, Thea can help alter your life script, and assist you in making needed changes to create a more dynamic existence.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Proof Bakery, Atwater Village | Photo by R.E.
By Beth Zeigler
It’s not as if my derriere really needs another pastry shop to open up in the neighborhood but it certainly won’t be boycotting Proof Bakery. I like that there isn’t a cupcake in sight in the Atwater Village bakery, which leads me to believe is carving out a style of their own. LA Weekly
Click on the link below for details on New Year’s sales in Echo Park; the hot dishes in Eagle Rock; and a post-holiday sale at Heritage Square.
[Read More…]
Friday, December 31, 2010
Echo Park bungalow court after tree trimmers finished their job.
- Family says justice was not served in the 1998 shooting death of Echo Park 16-year-old. L.A. Times
- Highland Park’s Avenue 50 Studio now accepting recurring donations. Avenue 50
- House flipper hops into Frogtown with a $399,000 listing. Curbed L.A.
- Starving artists need not apply for $2,000-a-month and up lofts in Lincoln Heights arts complex. Curbed L.A.
- Eagle Rock’s Fatty’s restaurant to hold a last supper before going on a “creative hiatus.” Eagle Rock Patch
- Latino Diabetes Assoc. proposing to start Cypress Park farmer’s market. LDA
- Highland Park kids to ride on Rose Parade float. The Wave
Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer
Visitors to Echo Park Lake this morning found that a huge eucalyptus tree had crashed into part of a playground on the north end of the park as high winds streaked across the area. At least one resident who lives near the park thought he had hear the sound of a tree falling last night but it’s not clear when the tree fell or if anyone was injured.
* Update: The high winds were being blamed for numerous power outages last night and this morning. Councilman Eric Garcetti on his Facebook page notes that more than 7,000 DWP customers in his district, which stretches from Hollywood to Echo Park, were without power earlier this morning.
Meanwhile, more tree trouble in Silver Lake, where a large tree fell in the 1600 block of Lucile Avenue, blocking the street north of Sunset Boulevard. Click on the link below for the photo by Sandy Driscoll.
[Read More…]
This morning found residents across Echo Park and other Eastside neighborhoods collecting and stacking countless palm fronds that blew off during last night’s windstorm. Workers in Elysian Park, which were already busy attending to fallen trees, had truckloads of palm fronds to collect, including those pictures above on the aptly named Avenue of the Palms section of Stadium Way. Residents reported more fallen trees across Elysian Park and at Echo Park Lake, where a large tree was reported down near the children’s play area on the north side of the park.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Eagle Rock | Photo by Cheryl Johnson/Flickr
- Councilman Ed Reyes received $10,500 in political contributions from subcontractors working for affordable housing developer now being investigated for fraud. L.A. Times
- What will replace Echo Park’s Epack store? Echo Park Patch
- Can handcrafted books made in an Eagle Rock garage survive in the e-reader era? L.A. Times
- Westside chef looking for a new Eastside kitchen. Squid Ink
- The many questions raised and left unanswered about Councilman Jose Huizar $1.5 million fund. The Informer
- A Resevoir Dogs tour of Highland Park. Highland Park Patch
- Happening Today: Knitting Club meets in Lincoln Heights. Save the Date
- Notes: Who is going to mow this? A strip of grass has sprouted on the roof of the Echo Park Vons,
Markus Mentzer of Silver Lake snapped the above panorama (click on the photo to enlarge) from Hidalgo Avenue on Tuesday as clouds from the approaching storm spread across the sky.
The days following last week’s torrential rains found workers at Elysian Park busy cutting down fallen trees and branches and wrapping yellow caution tape around other damaged trees, including this approximately 40-foot high eucalyptus that is part of a small grove near Academy Road and Stadium Way. So far, 15 entire trees have collapsed and numerous large branches have been broken across Elysian Park, said Recreation & Parks spokeswoman Andrea Epstein.
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