The upcoming closure of Santa Fe Tortilleria in Echo Park finds Stephanie C. of Silver Lake wondering where to shop for fresh tortillas:
No more amazing, cheap, homemade tortillas or homemade habanero salsa … Do you or any other readers know any other great tortillerias in the nearby area?
The Eastsider’s padrinos used to own La Azteca Tortilleria in East Los Angeles. La Azteca remains in business. However, La Morena Bakery & Tortilleria, in Boyle Heights is closer to Echo Park and Silver Lake. Any other suggestions?
Patrick Valliancourt needs help caring for an injured bird he found this morning in Elysian Park:
I was walking in Elysian Park this morning and found an injured bird scuffling across the dirt. I managed to scoot the bird onto a palm branch and walked him home. He was able to swallow some sugar water and seems ok for the time being. He definitely has a broken wing and potentially other injuries. Do you know anybody in the neighborhood who cares for ill animals?
The Eastsider is familiar with neighborhood groups that deal primarily with dogs and cats – not birds. Any suggestions?
Susan Biddlecomb of Echo Park noted that an L.A. Times story said the snow level may drop to as low as 1,000 feet. Are the hills of Echo Park and Elysian Heights high enough to get a frosting of snow, Biddlecomb asks.
“Seems that the average elevation in L.A. is 338 -340 feet above sea level, and Dodger Stadium is listed as 340 feet above sea level. The Griffith Park Observatory is 1,134 feet above sea level and that seems pretty level with the Baxter hill to me.”
Echo Park certainly does have some steep hills but it does not look like any part of the neighborhood’s terrain comes close to 1,000 feet above sea level. After reviewing the topography maps in the Bureau of Engineering’s website, the highest hill in Echo Park rises to 745-feet at the Edendale water tank near Cerro Gordo and Lemoyne streets.
Head north from Echo Park if you are in search of higher hills and a better chance of snowfall. One peak near Debs Park in Montecito Heights rises to 880 feet, and a hill near the well-named Upperton Place in Eagle Rock stands at 911 feet high. But, there is even high ground on Mount Washington, where the elevation climbs to 925 feet near Lark Court and Glenalbyn Drive.
Still, given the wacky weather of late, perhaps the snow level will plunge below 1,000 feet as it did on January 11, 1949, when the above photo on Park Drive in Echo Park was taken. Anyone have snow chains just in case?
Photo courtesy Rick Morton
Ed is a homeless man who lives near Glendale Boulevard and Effie Street in Echo Park, part of a small but growing homeless settlement. Ed collects stuff – everything from clothing and plants to furniture and an aquarium – that is piled high on the sidewalk and the street. Ed spends some of his time repairing and cleaning up his “collection,” as one neighbor calls it. He has even been seen washing and folding discarded clothing before parking it into boxes that he donates to charity. There is a problem, however. Ed’s belongings have sometimes overflow and block a portion of the street as the homeless settlement has grown, according to an Echo Park resident named Matt. Mat is looking for help to find a new and less obtrusive place where Ed can collect and store his belongings. Mat, a 35-year-old visual artist, writes:
“Ed’s “collection” ebbs and flows in volume and, most of the time, blocks traffic on the north side of Effie St. And while Ed is both personable and entirely harmless, his presence is, by nature, sometimes threatening or off-putting to outsiders who are not familiar with him and who may be in the area to conduct business. I genuinely believe he is doing a real service and I would equally so hate to see his things simply seized and discarded. However, in order for that to happen, he would, ideally, need a place to relocate. And I have the fantasy that someone out there might own a vacant lot that Ed could use to do his work in peace.”
Click on the link below to find out more about Ed and his collection:
[Read More…]
A new Echo Park resident named Erin is faced with the bounty and burden of collecting the harvest from a pair of avocado trees on her property. She’s asking for help before those avocados start hitting the ground:
“I moved to Echo Park about 6 months ago, and now have two huge avocado trees (Hass, I believe) fruiting on the property. I would like to harvest and share the avocados, but do not have any experience or a fruit picker. Are there any toolshare groups or organizations for harvesting local fruits in exchange for produce? It would be a shame to let this bounty go to waste!”
The Eastsider has heard that some members of the Echo Park Time Bank have been able to find neighbors willing to pick fruit trees in return for other services. Any other suggestions?
Photo by Cayobo/Flickr
Six months ago Diego Garza moved into a renovated one-bedroom Boyle Heights apartment on Breed Street. Diego loves the place – nine-foot high ceilings and a short walk to the Soto Street Gold Line Station – but now plans to move into a house that he and his girlfriend are buying in East Los Angeles. There’s one hitch. He’s stuck paying $825 a-month on the apartment for the remainder of the lease until a new renter is found. He needs to find a replacement tenant or find himself paying rent and a mortgage, too:
“My landlord is a great guy and very understanding and very helpful. He posted the apartment for rent as soon as I told him the news a few weeks ago. He is willing to break the lease and find someone else and sign a new lease with them. But of course, until then I am legally obligated to that lease until I can find someone to rent it. It’s a really great apartment … I wouldn’t be moving if it wasn’t for this amazing opportunity on the house. Hope you can help me out!
Here’s the CraigList ad for Diego’s apartment.
Photo from Craigslist
The name “Budd Wiener” is one that makes your inner fourth-grader giggle. It’s also the name of a tiny park that serves as the primary gathering space for Monterey Hills, a master-planned cluster of more than 1,700 condos and apartments that rest atop the hills between Hermon and El Sereno. A new Monterey Hills homeowner curious about Budd Wiener could not find much info about the man:
“I did a quick search and could find no info about Budd Wiener
(the man, not the park) online. I’m thinking of calling the Central Library’s reference desk. “I can’t wait to find out about the man behind the mystery!”
A thrifty Echo Park resident named Mary G. is looking for ways to reuse all those clear plastic containers that often come home stuffed with supermarket muffins or strawberries. Yes, you can toss many of them in the blue recycle trash bin. But Mary – who admits to still using cardboard boxes rescued from her office 20 years ago – is looking for some more creative, DIY solutions:
“They would make great mini greenhouses: punch holes for air, layer
with soil/fertilizer/water and plant your veggie and spice seeds. Most of the boxes have snap-down lids so the critters (possums/raccoons/birds/snails) couldn’t get in them but people could. If necessary, to keep them from being dragged off by an enterprising raccoon, they could be tacked down or wired to a fence, window sill, etc.”
A Midwestern friend of the Eastsider suggests saving the boxes to store Christmas ornaments or perhaps serving as some back up rain gear. Not sure if a strawberry-box-as umbrella would offer much protection but other ideas are welcome.
There’s a wealth of old photos online but finding vintage images of your own block or house can be challenging, as Chris from Silver Lake has discovered:
“I live in Silver Lake and am interested in seeing if I can findsome archived photos of my neighborhood and the houses on my street. I have gone to the
LA Public Library site and found some really interesting pics of the Silver Lake area over the years in their historical photo archives, but nothing really focused on streets and houses. Mostly just shots of the reservoir under construction and the freeway exit off the 101 being opened in the 1950′s. Any guidance you could offer would be appreciated.”
The Eastsider, who has done some research on behalf of the Echo Park Historical Society, has sometimes found great images via the
Historic Los Angeles Times database on the public library site (library card number required). You can search by address and, if you are lucky, the results might contain a photo – albeit one of poor quality. In contrast, the historic aerial photos available via the UCLA Department of Geography are crystal clear. But you have to go to UCLA in person to view them and – as Chris from Silver Lake notes – it’s not cheap. The university charges $40 an hour to view photos and $50 for scans of images saved to a disc. If you have any affordable alternatives for, please share them in the comments.
Image from Echo Park Historical Society
It happens. Despite a convenient location and passionate fans, sometimes a taco truck goes missing. In Echo Park, a resident named Caitlan wonders what happened to the Tacos Arizas trailer that had been parked next to the Save A Lot on Logan Street north of Sunset Boulevard. It’s the same taco truck that last year agreed to move one block north after the office of Councilman Eric Garcetti got involved in some taco truck diplomacy in response to residents’ complaints about the truck’s previous location. But, apparently in recent weeks, Arizas hasn’t been seen in the new or old location, reports Caitlan:
“I have noticed that Tacos Arizas taco truck (Logan St. and Sunset) has been missing recently … Very curious as to where it has moved … or why it’s been shut down. Wondering if you had any leads … Missing carnitas in Echo Park.”
Turns out Caitlan is not the only one searching for Arizas.
The Daily Taco blog posted an A.P.B. for Tacos Arizas: “Echo Park’s Tacos Ariza’s hasn’t been at their usual spot lately and the loyal faithful are missing their taco fix.” Tacos Arizas customers have also been seeking leads on Twitter, too.
The Eastsider paid a visit to the catering truck kitchen and depot in Huntington Park where Tacos Arizas is based. The trailer was sitting there at the end of a long row of trucks. One fellow food truck drivers said the owners of Tacos Arizas have taken the vehicle out but no one seems to know where. Last week, one Echo Park resident said he spotted Tacos Arizas on Logan but others complain Arizas cannot be found. What’s a carnitas taco lover to do?
L.A. Web Awards 
Best of L.A. 
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? 