With the orange Home Depot signs shining overhead, the southern edge of Figueroa Street in Cypress Park is better known for building supplies than boutiques. But at Figueroa and Avenue 28, the opening of Finster Studio, a vintage furniture and home accessories store, next to Footsies bar and across from Maintain skate shop has helped attract those searching for hipness instead of hardware. Cypress Park resident Sharon-Kate Sancer, a former photo producer and prop stylist, opened Finster, named after her Doxie Terrier mix, in December to pursue her longtime interest in vintage items and get out of a long commute.
Sancer said she was attracted to the location partly because Footsies “has a following of the same kind of customers we would draw.” Finster has also attracted customers patronizing other nearby businesses.
“I think [Maintain] customers have found us from spotting us across the street, and I hope vice-versa,” Sancer said in an email. “And I can’t neglect mentioning El Atacor #11. We’ve had many new customers walk in from being over here for their potato taco fix!”
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Police recovered a vehicle used in a Wednesday afternoon shooting that left two persons injured in Cypress Park. However, no arrests have been made in the case as of earlier today, said Lt. Steven Flores with the Northeast Division. Flores said the vehicle had been stolen from West Los Angeles. He had no other details. The vehicle used in the shooting near San Fernando Road and Loosemore Street was described as a white Chevrolet Astro van, according to L.A. Now. The two victims – an adult male and youth – were reportedly shot with an assault rifle.
Jon Regardie of the Downtown News writes this week about his recent jury duty, which took him to a dreary brick building on San Fernando Road in Cypress Park that serves as the county’s Mental Health Courthouse. This part of the L.A. County Superior Court on San Fernando Road near Alice Street is where juries hear cases involving conservatorship and “severe emotional problems for which they are unable or unwilling to seek voluntary care.” Regardie said that he and other potential jurors did not know what to expect when they learned of their assignment:
I know what you’re thinking: You’ve never heard of the Mental Health Courthouse. You had no idea such a thing exists. It was the same for everyone in our group. Driving by the facility, you’d never notice it. Slugged on a gritty stretch near auto body shops and across from a Metrolink repair yard, it’s about as appealing as, well, an auto body shop. Since I like to say nice things, I can state that, from the outside, it’s definitely slightly nicer than a crack house.
Our confused crowd entered a hot waiting room with 10 fewer chairs than people. Finally we were led to a nondescript courtroom. A dozen of us were called to the jury box. I was number 12.
Regardie was assigned to a case where a man was trying to win his independence from his son. Unlike the downtown courthouses, there are no restaurants nearby. On the positive side, for jurors, the trials begin at 1:30 p.m., Regardie said.
Three men standing on a Cypress Park street near Mount Washington were injured Friday night after the occupants of a passing SUV fired multiple shots at the victims. The shooting took place at about 9 p.m. in the 3800 block of Glenalbyn Drive, a narrow, winding hillside street. It is not known if the shooting is gang related, said LAPD spokeswoman Norma Eisenman. The three victims, described as male Latinos, were in critical but stable condition this morning, she said. The shooters fled in a dark colored SUV with tinted windows.
* Update: Sgt. Victor Arellano with the Northeast Division said that the shooting victims include a 15-year-old male and two 19-year-old males. Highland Park Patch is reporting that the shooting may not have been a drive-by. The shooters were said to have emerged from the vehicle to fire upon the group.
Submitted by the Friends of Cypress Park Community Improvement Association
The Friends of Cypress Park Community Improvement Association, in cooperation with the offices of L.A. City Councilmember Ed P. Reyes, will host its ninth annual Veteran’s Day observance in Northeast Los Angeles on Saturday, November 12, at the Cypress Park Veterans Memorial with a ceremony to honor those who have served their country in all branches of the military.
The ceremony to salute local veterans — living and deceased — begins at 10:30 a.m. at the memorial site (at the triangle intersection of Cypress Avenue and Pepper Avenue, in Cypress Park). Military observances are expected to include an honor guard, a POW/MIA table ceremony, raising of the flags, national anthem, and the traditional 21-gun salute to honor fallen comrades.
Local veterans are again asked to wear their uniforms, if available, and any military decorations earned. The Veterans Day celebration event is open to all.
The Cypress Park Veterans Memorial is the product of volunteer work organized by the Friends of Cypress Park in 2002, funded by a Los Angeles Neighborhood Matching Funds grant. Veterans and Memorial Day observances became a regular feature in 2003 after the volunteer group converted a blighted concrete traffic median at the center of the community into a neighborhood garden and memorial site with engraved bronze plaque honoring all local veterans from all services.
The Friends of Cypress Park Community Improvement Association is a non-profit service organization that welcomes new volunteers. The group oversees community improvement efforts working with Los Angeles city and county governments as well as other local groups such as the Greater Cypress Park Neighborhood Council.
Bulletin Board is a place where you post announcements, milestones & messages.
Photo from lapl.org
Submitted by Friends of Cypress Park Library
Faced with SCARY-big piles of surplus books donated from many sources, the Friends of the Cypress Park Library will once again host a cupboard-emptying book sale, this time on the weekend before Halloween, Saturday, October 29, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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As part of this next regular book sale, the Friends group will again empty out storage spaces of withdrawn and donated books to raise funds for library kids and youth programs. Thousands of used, near-new, and occasionally rare and out-of-print books for all interests will be made available. (And there usually ARE some “scary” ones, too.)
In addition, the sale offers some books-on tape, movies (DVD and VHS), and audio tapes and CDs. All books will again be offered for sale to the public at bargain prices (25 cents to $1) to help raise funds to support summer programs at the library, along with other needs. Some past proceeds were also used this year to finance a clean-up and the planting of new flowers and greenery on the library grounds.
Alex Graber of Montecito Heights drives frequently through the tangle of lanes where the 110 and 5 freeways meet near Lincoln Heights and Cypress Park. But Graber said getting through this busy interchange has been made more challenging since so many of the lights have gone dark and have stayed that way for the past year. The darkened interchange bothered Graber enough to complain to authorities to get Caltrans to fix the lights. There was no response, Graber said by email:
For well over a year, 60 lights have been shut off all along these freeways at very dangerous transition points. I have contacted my councilman’s office several times and they don’t seem to be getting any response from Cal Trans. Think you’d see this on the West Side? Doubtful. Next time you drive this at night, check it out. It’s appalling.
Caltrans spokesman Patrick Chandler could not say how long the lights had been out at the interchange but agency officials blame copper wire thieves for the problem. Starting this weekend, repairs will begin to get the lights back on.
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Metrolink maintenance center is located in Cypress Park and across the river from Elysian Valley/Google Maps
Freight and passenger trains have rumbled through Cypress Park for about a century. While Taylor Yard, the former rail yard operated by Southern Pacific, was put out of commission and part of it transformed into parkland, Cypress Park remains home to the main maintenance facility for Metrolink, the commuter rail service. That center, located between San Fernando Road and the Los Angeles River, will be the focus of a Wednesday night meeting to address complaints about the noise and pollution generated by the facility. Metrolink mechanics work on about 28 locomotives at day at the Cypress Park yard, where each engine emits diesel fumes as they idle up to 30 minutes a day while being serviced.
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Photo by Charlie Fisher
The City Council on Wednesday approved declaring the former Richard Henry Dana Library in Cypress Park a historic cultural monument. The 85-year-old Georgian-Revival style building on Pepper Avenue has been vacant since it was replaced by a new larger library. The old library, which is already listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was constructed in 1926 when the library system added 12 branches, according to a Cultural Heritage Commission staff report. How did the old Cypress Park library end up named after a 19th century author and sailor? The staff report explains:
It was given the name of Richard Henry Dana as a part of an effort to have the public submit name ideas after famous literary icons and pioneers related to California.
The old library, which has been eyed as a possible senior center and other uses, was nominated as a city landmark by the Highland Park Heritage Trust.
Related item:
- Old Cypress Park library nominated as a city landmark. The Eastsider
- Monument application and city staff report. City of L.A.
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