The LAPD has provided more details about the officer involved shooting on Saturday afternoon that left a 34-year-old man dead in El Sereno. Four officers opened fire on Juan Nunez in the 4800 block of Axtell Street after he allegedly pointed a gun at the officers, according to different media reports. Nunez was pronounced dead at the scene and a semi-automatic pistol was found near the body. Here are more details from the LAPD the incident:
On Saturday, January 7, 2012, at 12:48 p.m., LAPD Hollenbeck Area officers responded to a radio call of a male Hispanic armed with a gun in the 4800 block of Axtell Street in Los Angeles. When the officers arrived they observed a man standing near a parked white Nissan. The officers ordered the suspect to display his hands, but the man would not comply. Instead, he drew a semi-automatic pistol and fired at the officers at which time an officer involved shooting occurred.
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Photo from LA-32 Neighborhood Council
Many Los Angeles area residents associate the name “Rose Hills” with a large cemetery near Whittier. But it is also the name of a hillside neighborhood on the western edge of El Sereno. Rose Hills, the neighborhood, stands to get a little more attention under a proposal by Councilman Jose Huizar to install “Rose Hill” community signs on Monterey Road near Hermon, Soto Street near Mission Road and Huntington Drive near Collis Avenue. A major advocate of Rose Hills history and identity has been resident and LA 32 Neighborhood Council President activist Anthony Manzano, who has claimed that Rose Hills is Los Angeles’ oldest neighborhood.
Other neighborhood historians would probably disagree but Manzano argues that his neighborhood’s name is derived from Rancho Rosa de Castilla – the name of a Spanish-era ranch – and Ostungna, which he said means “Place of Roses” in the Tongva langauge. Here is Manzano’s reasoning in a recent email:
As time progresses … it is recorded that Ostungna became Rancho Rosa de Castilla and a map of 1852 indicates that the area north and east of the Pueblo was one Ranch. The name Rancho Rosa de Castilla is still carried slightly by the name of the street that is used at Cal State L.A. … and the community of Rose Hills still carries the name true to the Native Tongva Indians for over 7,000 years.
Photo Vxla/Flickr
Last year the residents of El Sereno celebrated the opening of a long-awaited Valley Boulevard bridge over the train tracks near Mariana Avenue. The $54 million Valley Grade Separation Bridge was supposed to eliminate the daily traffic jams and blaring train horns every time a Union Pacific freight train – as many as 30 a day – rumbled through the crossing. The new bridge may have improved Valley Boulevard traffic but it has been far less effective in reducing train-related noise across El Sereno and Hillside Village. Engineers are still required by federal law to blast those horns at four other crossings between Alhambra and Mission Road in Lincoln Heights and also when train crews spot maintenance workers or anyone else walking along the tracks, said Rick Coca, spokesman for Councilman Jose Huizar.
In order to get El Sereno some train-horn relief, Huizar has instructed city staff to apply for a federal “Quiet Zone” through El Sereno.
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One man is in critical condition after being shot twice late this morning in what might have been a gang-related shooting on the eastern edge of El Sereno. The man, a gang member in his 40s, was standing on the sidewalk near Mission Road and Superior Court when he was fired upon shortly before noon by three men who had been in a car, said Sgt. Michael Moriseau with the Hollenbeck Division. One of the bullets hit the victim in the leg; the other bullet hit his arm and then might have gone through his chest, Moriseau said.
Photo Donnaphoto/Flickr
Ezequiel Olvera of El Sereno was 10 years old when he bought a neighbor’s old gumball machine for $70. A family friend and neighborhood shoe shop owner allowed the young Olvera to install the gumball machine in his shop so the youth could begin raising money to go to college. Those 25-cent gumball sales added up, and eventually Olvera purchased more machines. Our Town El Sereno describes what happened next:
Despite the challenges that arose with Olvera’s idea of owning a gumball machine at age 10, he learned a lot about his community as he walked the streets of El Sereno to fill his gumball machines. He was able to witness many issues in the community, as well as differences between El Sereno and the surrounding communities. By age 16, Olvera had fifty five gumball machines and two soda machines in over twenty locations. He went on to pursue higher education at the University of California Santa Cruz.
Olvera, now 28, has started the Gumball Foundation, which has granted about 40 college scholarships. Last week, the Gumball Foundation was honored by the Annenberg Foundation with an Audience Award and a prize of $10,000.
Photo by Anthony Manzano
The spider photos keep coming in. Anthony Manzano was on Mercury Avenue in the neighborhood he calls Rose Hills (The Eastsider calls it El Sereno) when he encountered what appears to be one of those big orb weavers that blogger Will Campbell mentioned in our last spider-spotting post. Manzano used a camera and a quarter to document what he saw:
I plan on returning and capturing better images to reveal the true sense of the size of this ‘Creature’. Living along side nature is something we cherish, but seeing this spider along with others calling Rose Hills home brings a real fright. Just in time for the creepy, ghoulish, spooky, hauntings here in the community.
Some El Sereno residents have learned that burglars work rain or shine. Wendy Y. from El Sereno reports that a daytime burglary took place on the 3800 block of Harriman Avenue during the rain storm on Wed., Oct 5:
The thieves hopped the fence, pulled up a ladder and climbed up to the 2nd floor and ransacked my neighbor’s home. They chose the first rainy day of the season to do it since nobody was out and about walking around. My neighbors are very concerned about this.
Apparently there was a robbery a few hours before right around the block too!
Photo courtesy Luckman Fine Arts Complex
By Becky Koppenhaver
The Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State L.A. will hold it’s third annual World Arts Day on Saturday, October 8. This colorful event not only features live performances but will give visitors a chance to participate in workshops designed to experience and interact with art forms from around the world.
The eclectic line-up of workshops will feature everything from sessions on chocolate and mask making to a Digital Cumbia and Analog Animation workshop. In addition, World Arts Day has teamed up with the World Festival of Sacred Music and will present Burat Wangi and Sekar Jaya in the Mebarung, a Balinese traditional dance competition, and Makoto Taiko, a mind-blowing drumming ensemble from Japan.
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Frank Romero (top row, fourth from left) posing with the Cal State L.A. Art Society in 1961. Photo courtesy Cal State L.A.
Frank Romero/Cal State L.A.
An aspiring Boyle Heights artist named Frank Romero began his college education in 1959 as part of the first freshman class at the newly built Cal State L.A. campus on the edge of El Sereno. But Romero was not present when the Class of 1963 graduated. Instead, Romero left school to become a pioneering Chicano artist whose paintings and murals would be exhibited in museums and prominent public spaces. In 2009, 50 years after Romero first enrolled at Cal State L.A., Romero returned to the El Sereno campus to complete his education, earning his degree in art. On Thursday night, Oct. 6, Romero will be honored by the university as 2011 Alumnus of the Year.
Romero, in an oral history conducted in 1997, describes his first years at Cal State L.A., where he would meet Carlos Almaraz and others who would later become well-regarded Chicano painters and artists. He also gets in a few digs at his alma mater:
I was a member of the first freshman class, which was the class of ’63. So it was a brand-new university. It had just opened up, and they really didn’t even have an art building, but they took a classroom building and converted it to an art building, which was sort of makeshift. I only mention this because-this is sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety-thirty-five years later they still have the same building. [laughs]
Romero, who last this year sold his Elysian Valley studio, now divides his time between Los Angeles and France.
By Becky Koppenhaver
The Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State L.A. will open its 2011-2012 season on Saturday, Sept. 17 with a performance from the acclaimed French theatre collective, Macadames.
The Macadames is the first in an eclectic line-up of performances scheduled at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex, which is located on the El Sereno college campus, and known for delivering cutting edge music, dance, and theater productions from around the globe.
Many of the international acts are used to playing larger venues in other parts of the world but are attracted by the Luckman’s intimate setting, which can accommodate an audience of up to 1,600 people, said Cory Salinas, public relations coordinator for the Luckman. Nearly 24,000 people attended the Luckman’s 25 performances last year.
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